kfve has been in hd for about a week, i think

Only on Dish though??? since you did say you had Dish.

anyone been able to find kfve in hd over the qam? i wouldn't think otw would encrypt it, but i haven't been able to find it...

My most recent list has KFVE-HD as 110.1 on Oceanic.

Yeah after looking at Dishnetwork.com it is kinda weird how Dish has HD KFVE but not KHNL.

I know it may be dumb saying this but DirecTV is clueless when it comes to listings. If you search for shows by channel just to see if KHNL & KFVE are listed as HD or SD it says everything in the Hawaii market (channels 2, 2-2, 4, 4-2, 5, 9, 11, 11-2, 13 and 20) are already broadcasted in HD signals.

So what I'm wondering is, -
Is DirecTV giving everyone an HD signal on all Hawaii locals?

If so could KHNL & KFVE just not be sending out and HD signal to DirecTV for DirecTV to rebroadcast to everyone in Hawaii?

or

Could the listing just be wrong? since KIKU (20), KITV-Island Weather Now (4-2) and the PBS cartoon only channel (11-2) never broadcast anything in HD.

Could the listing just be wrong? since KIKU (20), KITV-Island Weather Now (4-2) and the PBS cartoon only channel (11-2) never broadcast anything in HD.
Yes, the listing is wrong.

Yes, the listing is wrong.

I do agree with you and thought that was the case.

However HD on the 15th could be realistic.

According to-

http://www.directsattv.com/directv/local/HI/Honolulu

KHNL and KFVE are both broadcasting on DirecTV in an analog format. Therefore could the DTV transition mean HD for everyone on DirecTV? Since they will have to broadcast in digital or will it just mean a digital quality picture for us instead of HD?

but on this site it says-

http://www.directstartv.com/localchannels/Hawaii/H/Honolulu/

Funny because I think the second site may be right. Since KITV, KHON, KGMB and PBS are already in HD.

110.1 it is. Many Thanks, Charles!

However HD on the 15th could be realistic.

Yes, could be. My understanding of what Charles O has told us earlier in this thread is that Dish and DirecTV have not been carrying KHNL in HD because of a problem getting the HD signal to the satellite uplink facility. As part of its digital transition, KHNL will come to have a land line to this facility, so that HD over satellite becomes feasible. I don't know about KFVE.

As the analog age draws to a close, there is a great deal of uncertainly surrounding the future of TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen). This nifty service has been built into millions of TVS and DVRs, relying upon a data stream embedded in the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval) of PBS stations around the country. Because there is no VBI in an ATSC signal, there has been a scramble to keep these devices working. A plan has been laid out for CBS network stations to carry the TVGOS data in digital form. This is especially important now, in Hawaii, as we switch over tomorrow at noon, a month earlier than the rest of the country. Yesterday, I have talked to KGMB engineering and I was assured that they were already carrying the data. However, my testing today has found no such data. This leaves me with three possible hypotheses: (a) KGMB is not, in fact, broadcasting the TVGOS data due to problems or inattention on their end, (b) Oceanic Time Warner is stripping the TVGOS data along with all the other PSIP data in their efforts to make local broadcasts as worthless as possible without crossing the FCC line of must carry or (c) my testing methodology or hardware is faulty.

Does anybody in the state of Hawaii have a TVGOS TV or DVR (running version 8 or 9 firmware) that is successfully using KGMB-HD as their host channel? Either OTA or QAM? Or am I the only one in the state with a TVGOS system? Anyone?

The way I hear it, (a), (b), and (c) may all be wrong. I've heard that the TVGOS system is awaiting a software update that will make it compatible with cable systems or some such nonsense. I was told that Macrovision "didn't anticipate" that cable companies would start moving to digital feeds until the end of January or February.

- Trip

What do you need to get TVGOS on digital OTA?

scott s.
.

As the analog age draws to a close, there is a great deal of uncertainly surrounding the future of TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen). This nifty service has been built into millions of TVS and DVRs, relying upon a data stream embedded in the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval) of PBS stations around the country. Because there is no VBI in an ATSC signal, there has been a scramble to keep these devices working. A plan has been laid out for CBS network stations to carry the TVGOS data in digital form. This is especially important now, in Hawaii, as we switch over tomorrow at noon, a month earlier than the rest of the country. Yesterday, I have talked to KGMB engineering and I was assured that they were already carrying the data. However, my testing today has found no such data. This leaves me with three possible hypotheses: (a) KGMB is not, in fact, broadcasting the TVGOS data due to problems or inattention on their end, (b) Oceanic Time Warner is stripping the TVGOS data along with all the other PSIP data in their efforts to make local broadcasts as worthless as possible without crossing the FCC line of must carry or (c) my testing methodology or hardware is faulty.

Does anybody in the state of Hawaii have a TVGOS TV or DVR (running version 8 or 9 firmware) that is successfully using KGMB-HD as their host channel? Either OTA or QAM? Or am I the only one in the state with a TVGOS system? Anyone?

I don't have OTA but I do have Oceanic. My QAM TV gets KGMB-HD on 113.1 and it has NO guide data let alone PSIP channel data. And, none of the other locals (via Oceanic) has any guide or station data.

I have no idea if the TVGOS or the PSIP data is in fact getting supplied to Oceanic properly formatted or not, but I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that even if the data is all there and correctly supplied to Oceanic, Oceanic will in fact strip this data out because Oceanic wants everyone to use an Oceanic box!

Just look at how Oceanic has manipulated the use of CableCards and how miserable they've made life for anyone wanting to use CableCards.

Oceanic does not exist to serve the public or it's customers, they exist to extort as much of your $$$ as possible, that they can get away with. Oceanic has over 400,000 customer. If the average monthly billing is only $100.00 (probably low) a month, that's over $40,000,000.00 every month, probably well over a HALF a BILLION every year!

TVGOS data, PSIP data, CableCards, will all eat into the almighty and highly profitable $$$ machine. Allowing any service that has the potential of diminishing revenues is contrary to the Oceanic business model. One could wonder where the heck our government regulators are that grant Oceanic a monopoly to extort customers... maybe they're out having lunch with Oceanic reviewing the necessity for the next cable fare hike do to the switchover to all digital and more OnDemand, and more PPV channels services.

As the analog age draws to a close, there is a great deal of uncertainly surrounding the future of TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen). This nifty service has been built into millions of TVS and DVRs, relying upon a data stream embedded in the VBI (Vertical Blanking Interval) of PBS stations around the country. Because there is no VBI in an ATSC signal, there has been a scramble to keep these devices working. A plan has been laid out for CBS network stations to carry the TVGOS data in digital form. This is especially important now, in Hawaii, as we switch over tomorrow at noon, a month earlier than the rest of the country. Yesterday, I have talked to KGMB engineering and I was assured that they were already carrying the data. However, my testing today has found no such data. This leaves me with three possible hypotheses: (a) KGMB is not, in fact, broadcasting the TVGOS data due to problems or inattention on their end, (b) Oceanic Time Warner is stripping the TVGOS data along with all the other PSIP data in their efforts to make local broadcasts as worthless as possible without crossing the FCC line of must carry or (c) my testing methodology or hardware is faulty.

Does anybody in the state of Hawaii have a TVGOS TV or DVR (running version 8 or 9 firmware) that is successfully using KGMB-HD as their host channel? Either OTA or QAM? Or am I the only one in the state with a TVGOS system? Anyone?
I have a Sony DHG-HDD250 with TVGOS v8 firmware and I am only currently showing VBI packets being received on PBS 10(Cable), CBS 7(Cable) and CBS 9(OTA).
No VBI on CBS 113.1, 117.7, 9.1 or PBS 120.12, 117.0, 11.1, 11.2.
I guess we will have to keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow, although I have seen others report successful downloads from CBS digital stations on the mainland.

Mike

Maybe Jan. 15th for KHNL & KFVE HD on DirecTV is once again possibly NOT happening??????

Kinda funny that the Satellite Guy told me that KHNL might be going HD this week last Wednesday because I called DirecTV customer service today and they said KHNL & KFVE are both not going HD until April at the earliest.

It has something to do with the whole channel operation needing to be HD before they go HD which seems like a bogus excuse to me. I know NBC's programing has been in HD playback for a while and I'm assuming KFVE's is now.

I'm thinking the channel is operating with an HD signal obviously.

Is the MNTV programing on KFVE in HD or just the news?

If the programing is then KHNL & KFVE are already fully HD so that answer was totally wrong.

QAM BUDDIES!

Ok, here is the latest lineup of channels capturable (almost) FREE off Oceanic Time Warner basic cable ($9.95/mo) using your QAM tuner:

PBS KHET 120.1 (HD)
NBC KHNL 83.1 (HD)
FOX KHON 85.1 (HD)
CBS KGMB 113.1 (HD)
ABC KITV 114.2 (HD)
CW KHON? 85.3 (SD)
(IND) KFVE 110.1 (HD)

I'm not one of those guys who likes to pay OTW $100/month. It ain't gonna happen!

As Hawaii's DTV transition is scheduled for today at noon, if anyone can provide a local perspective on the change, I would be interested in hearing about it.

I posted an article on the AVS HDTV Technical thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1108896

I am also interested in how many stations act as an analog "nightlight," broadcasting info about the transition after analog programming has stopped.

Thank you,

I just ran a read of the DTV signals from Oahu: KALO, KUPU and KWBN have already flipped to digital.
I also an getting blips from Maui and KGMV, KOGG and KMEB are already live from there.
Due to a shipping error from the mainland PBS Hawaii will be off the air on the Big Island for up to 2 weeks until they are able to upgrade the repeaters on that island.

Less than a hour to go. :)

Noon Update:

KHON, KAAH off the air.
KGMB, KITV, KHNL, KIKU airing PSA that stations are now only broadcasting digital.
KWHE and KHET still airing normal programming. tisk, tisk. :D

I brought my old Casio LCD analog TV in to work to see what happened at noon. Right now KHON, KITV, KGMB, and KHNL are running the same instructional video on how to set up a digital converter box. KHET is still running their regular programming.

KWHE, KBFD and KHET now all off the air.

KHET still airing digitally on RF 18 not 11.

Maybe Jan. 15th for KHNL & KFVE HD on DirecTV is once again possibly NOT happening??????

Kinda funny that the Satellite Guy told me that KHNL might be going HD this week last Wednesday because I called DirecTV customer service today and they said KHNL & KFVE are both not going HD until April at the earliest.



You might want to read Charles O's earlier posts on KHNL-HD:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14040953#post14040953

You might want to read Charles O's earlier posts on KHNL-HD:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14040953#post14040953

Interesting post.
Kinda funny too because K5 is HD now on DirecTV so it's probably now only a matter of hours or days before KHNL HD on DirecTV.

I kinda figured DirecTV customer svc is dumb. They said that the channel needs to have HD capabilities to broadcast in HD which obviously KHNL and K5 have.

So pretty much K5 in HD on DirecTV but not KHNL yet.

Thank you for the updates. Are there 4 or 5 "nightlights"? From the above, I have:

KHON, KITV, KGMB, KHNL and KIKU

Any news on the following stations:

KFVE, KPXO, KKAI
KAII, KMAU, KWHM
All Big Island stations (other than PBS)

Are there any "nightlights" outside of Oahu?

Thanks again.

If your not getting the Public Service Announcement that all of Hawaii's full power stations are now only broadcasting in digital, What are you getting on Directv and Dish when you watch KHNL.
If it's regular programming, then KHNL is somehow getting it's signal to them other that OTA.

From reports that I am getting, all the Maui stations are digital only. All analogs are off the air. I'm on Oahu's south shore, but can get KOGG from Maui and can confirm it's off air. My TSReader is picking up blips from digital KMAU, KOGG, KWHM and KGMV, so they are going out good and strong. I'm hearing KAII is not quite as strong and the last scan I did didn't show up.

KPXO analog is off air. I can't get KKAI so I don't know about them. KFVE is also showing the PSA, so six stations are "nightlighting" at this point.

As for the Big Island, other than PBS Hawaii's repeaters they seem to have had no other problems. KGMD did terminate the analog signal early to setup the digital transmitter.

Do you know if there are any stations on the big island nightlighting?

And you say you have TSReader, would you be willing to send me some data on the stations you can receive? I'm looking for some specific stuff; if you're willing to lend a hand, let me know and I'll give you more details. :)

- Trip

What are you getting on Directv and Dish when you watch KHNL.
On DirecTV, KHNL has regular programming. The lights on my receiver say it's a 480i signal, and it looks just as blurry as ever.

Do you know if there are any stations on the big island nightlighting?

And you say you have TSReader, would you be willing to send me some data on the stations you can receive? I'm looking for some specific stuff; if you're willing to lend a hand, let me know and I'll give you more details. :)

- Trip

Sure, no problem.

The stations I get with no problems are KHON, KITV, KGMB, KHET, KWHE, KIKU, KAAH and KBFD. The others I have problems locking the stations, but can get "peeks" now and then. :)

Well, my address is webmaster AT rabbitears DOT info. I'm seeking HTML Exports from as many stations as I can, with all data (checkboxes at the bottom) except EIT and Thumbnails.

Thanks. :)

- Trip

You go Trip! ;)

On DirecTV, KHNL has regular programming. The lights on my receiver say it's a 480i signal, and it looks just as blurry as ever.

Yeah 480 at best but it doesn't seem like 480i on some programs. They are super blurry.

If 6:30 and 9 are in HD I guess we have to tune into K5 for our HD news until KHNL goes up.

Oceanic does not exist to serve the public or it's customers, they exist to extort as much of your $$$ as possible, that they can get away with. Oceanic has over 400,000 customer. If the average monthly billing is only $100.00 (probably low) a month, that's over $40,000,000.00 every month, probably well over a HALF a BILLION every year!


Ahh Clark, it's like you read my mind. Though I can't quite tell whether it's pure malice or there is a significant chunk of techno-cluelessness involved. They know they are stripping all PSIP data because they can but do they realize they're stripping the TVGOS data? I was visiting family on the mainland for the holidays, and set up a new ATSC television on, of all MSOs, Comcast. Contrary to everything I have heard about Comcast, they did not strip the PSIP data so that the DTV channels followed the analog channel numbers and subchannel numbers remained the same. I was stunned! Not only that, but get ready for this: all of the basic tier channels available in analog were also available in digital! But wait, there's more: at least 2 or 3 dozen off-the-air radio stations from cities a hundred or more miles away were tunable as audio-only ATSC channels! And some basic channels not available in analog were available in digital.

What does this tell me? OTW (possibly all of TWC) has snatched the baton of suck from Comcast and is proudly running down the street waving its middle finger at its customers.

But that's just my opinion, based on what I know. My problem is that I've got 3 (yes, three) Sony DHG-HDD500 DVRs that are likely to be obsoleted by the bumble-fscks of OTW due to greed, sloth, incompetence or some linear combination thereof. Maybe I'll call Mufi. Ha.

Is there anyone who receives KGMB OTA that has a TVGOS device who can verify whether or not they are carrying the TVGOS stream?

Thank you for the updates. Are there 4 or 5 "nightlights"? From the above, I have:

KHON, KITV, KGMB, KHNL and KIKU

Any news on the following stations:

KFVE, KPXO, KKAI
KAII, KMAU, KWHM
All Big Island stations (other than PBS)

Are there any "nightlights" outside of Oahu?

Thanks again.
From Aiea with rabbit ears I found that KBFD actually *is* currently "nightlighting" the same PSA as on the other stations, so you can add that to the list for Oahu.

Only analog station left broadcasting its normal programming, at least from where I live, is KHLU-LP 46 (Univision). KHHI-LP 48 is also up but they broadcast nothing but a test pattern with station ID.

On DirecTV, KHNL has regular programming. The lights on my receiver say it's a 480i signal,
On DirecTV, as of 5:30am this morning, both KHNL and KHVE were showing a blank magenta screen in SD, and now, at 6:30am, they are both showing an error message in HD (1080i) "No need to call us ...". That's very encouraging.

Actually, I watched KFVE last night and I was not impressed by their HD resolution. The 6:30 p.m. newscast was still a little fuzzy. Nice bright red colors but, but the resolution was not very clear and not that much better than SD.

Hopefully KHNL and KFVE fix things soon. Superbowl is coming up fast!

Sidenote: A friend of mine had season tickets to the Arizona Cardinals home games. They flew up for about 4 games last season. After the 2nd game of THIS season, my friend sold his tickets (cheap) on Ebay to buy some football memorabilia, thinking ARIZONA wasn't going to be any good. With the success of the Cardinals this year, he has refused to talk about his "lost" season tickets. Imagine what those tickets are worth today, even for this final playoff game!:eek: I have a weird feeling they may even go to the Superbowl! ANYTHING is POSSIBLE.

I have a weird feeling they may even go to the Superbowl! ANYTHING is POSSIBLE.
Too bad the RAMS were eliminated early. LOL

Ahh Clark, it's like you read my mind. Though I can't quite tell whether it's pure malice or there is a significant chunk of techno-cluelessness involved. They know they are stripping all PSIP data because they can but do they realize they're stripping the TVGOS data? I was visiting family on the mainland for the holidays, and set up a new ATSC television on, of all MSOs, Comcast. Contrary to everything I have heard about Comcast, they did not strip the PSIP data so that the DTV channels followed the analog channel numbers and subchannel numbers remained the same. I was stunned! Not only that, but get ready for this: all of the basic tier channels available in analog were also available in digital! But wait, there's more: at least 2 or 3 dozen off-the-air radio stations from cities a hundred or more miles away were tunable as audio-only ATSC channels! And some basic channels not available in analog were available in digital.

What does this tell me? OTW (possibly all of TWC) has snatched the baton of suck from Comcast and is proudly running down the street waving its middle finger at its customers.

But that's just my opinion, based on what I know. My problem is that I've got 3 (yes, three) Sony DHG-HDD500 DVRs that are likely to be obsoleted by the bumble-fscks of OTW due to greed, sloth, incompetence or some linear combination thereof. Maybe I'll call Mufi. Ha.

Is there anyone who receives KGMB OTA that has a TVGOS device who can verify whether or not they are carrying the TVGOS stream?
KGMB 9.1 OTA is not providing TVGOS packets as of this morning.
KHET OTA 10.3 and 10.4 are not providing TVGOS either.
Both continue to provide TVGOS packets on their cable channels 7 & 10.
Doesn't look good so far for OTA TVGOS, we can still hope though.

Mike

So, our analog to digital cutover has come and gone, and all is well in the O$eanic land of Paradi$e.

But, wait a minute, I had though that the point of going to all digital was to free up all that analog bandwidth so we can have more digital, and in particular, more HD cable channels. You know, more PPV, more OD/iND, more Pizza ordering, more Info, more Shopping, more Answers OD, etc, etc.

I also thought that post "Analog Cutoff" would result in Oceanic's lineup having NO analog (frequency) channels at all, and all former analog channels would only be carried on digital (QAM frequency) channels.

Well, it looks like the old analog channels are all still there, on analog frequencies.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to why Oceanic would still continue to carry all the old analog channels on analog frequencies?

I wonder if Comcast and the other Time Warner markets are going to be doing the same thing when they cut over?

So, our analog to digital cutover has come and gone, and all is well in the O$eanic land of Paradi$e.

But, wait a minute, I had though that the point of going to all digital was to free up all that analog bandwidth so we can have more digital, and in particular, more HD cable channels. You know, more PPV, more OD/iND, more Pizza ordering, more Info, more Shopping, more Answers OD, etc, etc.

I also thought that post "Analog Cutoff" would result in Oceanic's lineup having NO analog (frequency) channels at all, and all former analog channels would only be carried on digital (QAM frequency) channels.

Well, it looks like the old analog channels are all still there, on analog frequencies.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to why Oceanic would still continue to carry all the old analog channels on analog frequencies?

I wonder if Comcast and the other Time Warner markets are going to be doing the same thing when they cut over?If your cable company has not supplied converters to their subscribers with analog tv sets, then analog signals must continue.

The most basic package must be made available in analog until 2012, unless they get a waiver from the FCC. The digital shutoff does NOT apply to cable systems, only to OTA transmission.

- Trip

Trip: Does that make my statement false?

No. That is the another option local cable companies have, but I imagine most won't do that, and will instead wait until 2012 and then try to charge for boxes instead of providing them (or provide the first box and charge for additional boxes).

- Trip

On DirecTV, as of 5:30am this morning, both KHNL and KHVE were showing a blank magenta screen in SD, and now, at 6:30am, they are both showing an error message in HD (1080i) "No need to call us ...". That's very encouraging.

Well now it's 3:00 and KFVE is still out and KHNL went back on the air. Then they just went off again with a pink screen. I'm in Moanalua and the rain is coming down hard with black clouds. The winds aren't that bad yet I'd say 10-20 MPH but I am hearing thunder and it's raining.

My guess is maybe they've lost signals for everyone.

As far as K5 news goes can someone that has DirecTV check the resolution on the news?
It didn't look like it was close to even 720p quality much less 1080i.

Hey everyone, first time posting here. I work for a company that sets up and maintains digital off-air and directv feeds to hotels in waikiki and also PPV service (analog, digital SD-HD) to hotels. Pretty much work with RF (analog, 8VSB, QAM64/256) on a daily basis.

Yesterday I bought one of those cheap $10 RCA rabbit antennas from wal-mart for my home tv that has a ATSC tuner. I live in the EWA gentry area and I'm able to get all the major networks digital-off air HD and SD programming with this simple antenna. Without using my digital RF meter I was able position my antenna and get KITV, KGMB, KHET, KIKU relatively easy. I ended up using my digital RF meter to find KHON and KHNL.

I have a portable digital tuner for my laptop. I was planning to go to different locations and try out the basic $10 rabbit ears to see what channels I can get and let people know on hawaii forums.

As for picture quality, it looks identical to the digital local feed provided by oceanic. I can easily flip back and forth to compare both feeds on TV.

I got some pictures of my setup experience in this forum if you guys are interested.

http://www.forumshawaii.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=474541

Well now it's 3:00 and KFVE is still out and KHNL went back on the air. Then they just went off again with a pink screen. I'm in Moanalua and the rain is coming down hard with black clouds. The winds aren't that bad yet I'd say 10-20 MPH but I am hearing thunder and it's raining.

My guess is maybe they've lost signals for everyone.

As far as K5 news goes can someone that has DirecTV check the resolution on the news?
It didn't look like it was close to even 720p quality much less 1080i.

I noticed last night I lost KFVE, KHNL, and KHET even with my commerical grade outdoor UHF antenna. As of right now I lost KFVE and KHNL. I'll check signal level with my digital RF meter!

hey I had a question for you directv users in hawaii. At our hotels, we been having problems with KHET-PBS and KGMB-CBS directv within the past few months. KHET having picture-no audio and CBS with video-audio sync lag. This happens at ALL our DirecTV sites in Waikiki. Are you guys experiencing this on the residental level? Whats weird is that our site on maui problems are half as bad and on the big island it happens rarely. Our Dish Network site experiences problems rarely for local channels.....

Whats strange is that our H20 receivers PBS has picture-no audio and on our H21 its Audio-no picture. We worked with the directv engineers and they always tell us 'there is no problem on our side'. then magically it "fixes" itself. really frustraing especially because the hotels are constantly yelling at US.

We started noticing problems since directv moved hawaii to a different transponder on the 99.

hey I had a question for you directv users in hawaii. At our hotels, we been having problems with KHET-PBS and KGMB-CBS directv within the past few months. KHET having picture-no audio and CBS with video-audio sync lag. This happens at ALL our DirecTV sites in Waikiki. Are you guys experiencing this on the residental level? Whats weird is that our site on maui problems are half as bad and on the big island it happens rarely. Our Dish Network site experiences problems rarely for local channels.....

Whats strange is that our H20 receivers PBS has picture-no audio and on our H21 its Audio-no picture. We worked with the directv engineers and they always tell us 'there is no problem on our side'. then magically it "fixes" itself. really frustraing especially because the hotels are constantly yelling at US.

We started noticing problems since directv moved hawaii to a different transponder on the 99.

Only KFVE and KHNL not going HD have been the major prolems. KFVE went "HD" yesterday but I don't think their HD signal is fully up being that the news didn't look great. KHNL hasn't been HD on DirecTV yet.

As far as KGMB & KHET. Nothing wrong on CBS. Sometimes KHET will lose audio or picture signals or the audio may be after the picture shows. The lips might move and then you hear a voice.

EDIT:
As of now KHET is out on DirecTV too.

hey I had a question for you directv users in hawaii.
No, I haven't noticed those problems (but I only watch CBS and PBS occasionally). I just asked my wife, and she hasn't, either, except she mentioned audio sync problems with a history-of-comedy thing on PBS presented by Billy Crystal. (I have HR20-700 and H21-100.)

I noticed last night I lost KFVE, KHNL, and KHET even with my commerical grade outdoor UHF antenna. As of right now I lost KFVE and KHNL. I'll check signal level with my digital RF meter!

We've lost the HD signal of KFVE on DirecTV and it has come back in SD. The audio on KFVE isn't as soft as it was before. KHNL has also been restored in SD.

EDIT: KHNL MAY be in HD. The picture during Conan looks alot clearer but the picture is definalitely cut / zoomed in. When Conan started you could only see the V and 4 of the TV 14 box.

...
Well, it looks like the old analog channels are all still there, on analog frequencies.

The most basic package must be made available in analog until 2012, unless they get a waiver from the FCC. The digital shutoff does NOT apply to cable systems, only to OTA transmission.
- Trip

I was going to ask why my VCRs still work (& are still getting the same crummy reception) after the Big Day. And then I spotted these tidbits (above).

So, let me see if I have this right: Since I have OTW basic cable -- no cable box -- I am still able to tune to the same old channels (3, 8, 9, 10, etc.) with the same reception problems/symptoms as before Jan. 15 -- ghosting of KGMB over KIKU, snowy KHNL, etc. And the reason these appear to be the same is because they are the same ... they are still "analog".

Is that right? Wow! What a disappointment. Here I had imagined that 'they' were helping us viewers out by letting us keep the familiar channel numbers and shifting the digital feeds over to these numbers. BooHoo

As for my 'digital' viewing I need to rely on the (find-em-if-you-can) QAM channels, just as I did before the cutover. And to 'record' from these channels I guess I have until 2012 to find a 'vcr' with a digital tuner. (???)

QAM BUDDIES!

Ok, here is the latest lineup of channels capturable (almost) FREE off Oceanic Time Warner basic cable ($9.95/mo) using your QAM tuner:

PBS KHET 120.1 (HD)
NBC KHNL 83.1 (HD)
FOX KHON 85.1 (HD)
CBS KGMB 113.1 (HD)
ABC KITV 114.2 (HD)
CW KHON? 85.3 (SD)
(IND) KFVE 110.1 (HD)


To augment the above, here's what our TV can tune to (OTW basic cable):

FOX KHON 85-3
ABC KITV 117-6 114-2 (HD)
CBS KGMB 117-7 113-1 (HD)
NBC KHNL 117-8 83-3 (HD)
KIKU 113-4
PBS KHET 117-10 120-12 (HD)
KBFD 117-5
ESPN 117-214
ESPN2 117-220
CW 85-4
ei (PBSish) 115-3
NICK 117-215
OC-16 117-216
TBS 117-217

QAM BUDDIES!

Ok, here is the latest lineup of channels capturable (almost) FREE off Oceanic Time Warner basic cable ($9.95/mo) using your QAM tuner:

PBS KHET 120.1 (HD)
NBC KHNL 83.1 (HD)
FOX KHON 85.1 (HD)
CBS KGMB 113.1 (HD)
ABC KITV 114.2 (HD)
CW KHON? 85.3 (SD)
(IND) KFVE 110.1 (HD)

I'm not one of those guys who likes to pay OTW $100/month. It ain't gonna happen!

To augment the above, here's what our TV can tune to (OTW basic cable):

FOX KHON 85-3
ABC KITV 117-6 114-2 (HD)
CBS KGMB 117-7 113-1 (HD)
NBC KHNL 117-8 83-3 (HD)
KIKU 113-4
PBS KHET 117-10 120-12 (HD)
KBFD 117-5
ESPN 117-214
ESPN2 117-220
CW 85-4
ei (PBSish) 115-3
NICK 117-215
OC-16 117-216
TBS 117-217

KHON SD is on 117-211 for me. I have KBFD as 113-5. I currently am not receiving NICK, OC-16, or TBS but I remember having them at one time.

I was going to ask why my VCRs still work (& are still getting the same crummy reception) after the Big Day. And then I spotted these tidbits (above).

So, let me see if I have this right: Since I have OTW basic cable -- no cable box -- I am still able to tune to the same old channels (3, 8, 9, 10, etc.) with the same reception problems/symptoms as before Jan. 15 -- ghosting of KGMB over KIKU, snowy KHNL, etc. And the reason these appear to be the same is because they are the same ... they are still "analog".

Is that right? Wow! What a disappointment. Here I had imagined that 'they' were helping us viewers out by letting us keep the familiar channel numbers and shifting the digital feeds over to these numbers. BooHoo


The problems with cable channels 4, 9 and 13 remain because even though the stations are no longer airing normal programming over the air in analog, the stations are still transmitting. They are airing a loop informing viewers that they must buy a converter box or new TV to watch local TV over the air. Cable and Satellite customers are not directly affected by the "Big Switch", all stations send a direct feed to Oceanic who then sends it to you in an analog format so that all viewers hooked to cable can watch them. By Feb 17th, all of the analog stations over the air only will go completely off the air, not cable and that will clear up the picture on cable channels 4, 9 and 13. KHON's digital signal is over the air channel 8, the same channel that Oceanic sends KHNL out on it's system, so interference problems won't change with them.

hey I had a question for you directv users in hawaii. At our hotels, we been having problems with KHET-PBS and KGMB-CBS directv within the past few months. KHET having picture-no audio and CBS with video-audio sync lag. This happens at ALL our DirecTV sites in Waikiki. Are you guys experiencing this on the residental level? Whats weird is that our site on maui problems are half as bad and on the big island it happens rarely. Our Dish Network site experiences problems rarely for local channels.....

Whats strange is that our H20 receivers PBS has picture-no audio and on our H21 its Audio-no picture. We worked with the directv engineers and they always tell us 'there is no problem on our side'. then magically it "fixes" itself. really frustraing especially because the hotels are constantly yelling at US.

I have a friend here on Maui who watches the "Newshour with Jim Lehrer" religiously and has been complaining about loss of audio now for a couple of weeks.
He has two H20s with the problem.


We started noticing problems since directv moved hawaii to a different transponder on the 99.

Hmm, I wonder if this could have anything to do with the strange interaction between the DTVAH99/101/103 LNB and baseband converter, although it would seem that the hotels would be using SWM.(?)

--Michael

We've lost the HD signal of KFVE on DirecTV and it has come back in SD. The audio on KFVE isn't as soft as it was before. KHNL has also been restored in SD.

EDIT: KHNL MAY be in HD. The picture during Conan looks alot clearer but the picture is definalitely cut / zoomed in. When Conan started you could only see the V and 4 of the TV 14 box.

A couple of things have to happen in order for us to have KHNL/KFVE HD on DirecTV:
The uplink has to be supplied with the HD feed.
The uplink has to broadcast to the satellite in HD.

You can check the satellite segment by setting your DirecTV box to 'native' and looking at the 'resolution' lights on the front panel, but even though it may show 720 or 1080, the "content" could be SD.

The issue in Hawaii nei is purely getting the HD feed from the studio to the uplink and only 'those in-the-know' can comment on the progress of that. Your phone calls have shown that a couple of those aren't 'in-the-know' at all.<g>

--Michael

A couple of things have to happen in order for us to have KHNL/KFVE HD on DirecTV:
The uplink has to be supplied with the HD feed.
The uplink has to broadcast to the satellite in HD.

You can check the satellite segment by setting your DirecTV box to 'native' and looking at the 'resolution' lights on the front panel, but even though it may show 720 or 1080, the "content" could be SD.

The issue in Hawaii nei is purely getting the HD feed from the studio to the uplink and only 'those in-the-know' can comment on the progress of that. Your phone calls have shown that a couple of those aren't 'in-the-know' at all.<g>

--Michael

Strange things happen. I was at the UH Men's BBall game against San Jose tonight and saw John Fink (GM of KHNL & KFVE) buying snacks.

He said that the employees of KHNL & KFVE have done everything DirecTV has asked them to do for reception of their HD feed. He said when the connection went up to HD on KFVE on Thursday it was not actually in HD. That was espically clear during the news as it was clearly not in HD.

On a side note Mr. Fink also said that DirecTV has the worst technical department of the big 3 cable and satellite providers here.

He did say they were and still are trying to fix the HD connection again for KFVE and want to get KHNL up before the Super Bowl. He did say that it was DirecTV that cut off the HD signal for KFVE. When they cut off KFVE's signal they also cut off KHNL's by mistake hence why we saw a pink screen for a while on KHNL while we saw the usual "no need to call us message" on KFVE at the same time.

If anything the earliest KHNL and KFVE could be back up in HD would be Monday when Mr. Fink contacts DirecTV again. He did say tomorrow if they contact him on his personal phone but he said more then likely Monday.

[He said that the employees of KHNL & KFVE have done everything DirecTV has asked them to do for reception of their HD feed. He said when the connection went up to HD on KFVE on Thursday it was not actually in HD. That was espically clear during the news as it was clearly not in HD.

On a side note Mr. Fink also said that DirecTV has the worst technical department of the big 3 cable and satellite providers here.

Maybe I am just a natural skeptic. I just cannot help but wonder why KGMB, KITV etc have no problem getting a signal to Directv, and KHNL is the only one that has problems.

I would bet a significant amount of money that if I called Directv that they would blame KHNL for the technical difficulties.

What really needs to happen is for everyone involved to get off of their backsides and resolve the problems, or, pull the signal off of Directv all together and let us get the DNS service out here for High definition.

[Maybe I am just a natural skeptic. I just cannot help but wonder why KGMB, KITV etc have no problem getting a signal to Directv, and KHNL is the only one that has problems.

I would bet a significant amount of money that if I called Directv that they would blame KHNL for the technical difficulties.

What really needs to happen is for everyone involved to get off of their backsides and resolve the problems, or, pull the signal off of Directv all together and let us get the DNS service out here for High definition.

Yep which is true they did. If you ask me both parties are blaming eachother and they both need to have a sit down meeting if they even want to have a chance of providing the Super Bowl in HD.

It would be good though to call DirecTV to complain and find out what they tell you. They told me that KHNL and KFVE will be in SD until March and that they go HD when you see black bars. We saw black bars on KFVE and "HD" news on Thursday on KFVE and then it went back to SD. I'm just wondering if they'd tell you the same thing.

KHON SD is on 117-211 for me. I have KBFD as 113-5. I currently am not receiving NICK, OC-16, or TBS but I remember having them at one time.

Thanks for pointing these out. I did a rescan on the TV and see that I've now lost some of the channels and gained a few others. I figured out names for some of them but others seem like infomercials or religious broadcasts -- hard to puzzle 'em out (maybe it's a Sunday-thing).

Is this line-up published anywhere ... say, by OTW? Meanwhile, for ease of updating (as I discover more info., gain/lose channels, etc.) I am happy to share what I have compiled so far ... easier to maintain in 'table' form than in-line in this thread:
http://web.mac.com/keri_ah/mystuff/HonoluluLineup.htm
Updates most welcome.

The problems with cable channels 4, 9 and 13 remain because even though the stations are no longer airing normal programming over the air in analog, the stations are still transmitting. They are airing a loop informing viewers that they must buy a converter box or new TV to watch local TV over the air....

Thanks for this explanation. For years we'd tried to get some confirmation of what we were experiencing with KIKU/KGMB, only to be met with useless shrugs. Since our condo assn. pays for the 'basic' cable we have no actual account with OTW so talking to them was hopeless. But we are line-of-sight with the KGMB tower and we kinda figured this out ourselves ... and now we know the rest-of-the-story. I have looked more closely at the ghosting and I see that it is indeed the loop message.

...Cable and Satellite customers are not directly affected by the "Big Switch", all stations send a direct feed to Oceanic who then sends it to you in an analog format so that all viewers hooked to cable can watch them....

In compiling the table (my previous post) I checked the information on each channel and I discovered that I have 3 kinds of display being reported: 480i, 720p, or 1080i. The channels that are "analog" (e.g., 3, 6, 8, etc.) are reported as "480i SD" which is the same as reported for several of the digital channels (e.g., 117-8, 117-10, 113-4, etc.). Why would the "analog" channels be reported this as "digital"? (that's assuming I am correctly interpreting "SD" as meaning "standard digital" ... which is not what this means??)

Thanks for this explanation. For years we'd tried to get some confirmation of what we were experiencing with KIKU/KGMB, only to be met with useless shrugs. Since our condo assn. pays for the 'basic' cable we have no actual account with OTW so talking to them was hopeless. ..


Don't feel too special. You get the same treatment from OTW whether you are a business, residential, or pirate customer. As far as I can figure, they both hate everyone and know absolutely nothing. A friend actually went to the Mililani office to set up a business cable-modem account and the receptionist there gave him stupid looks. She had had never even heard of the service, much less who to contact about it. But there was a huge line of OTW customers begging for a digital converter box that OTW had promised but failed to deliver. Darn those pesky customers - why don' they just give us all their money and just go away?


In compiling the table (my previous post) I checked the information on each channel and I discovered that I have 3 kinds of display being reported: 480i, 720p, or 1080i. The channels that are "analog" (e.g., 3, 6, 8, etc.) are reported as "480i SD" which is the same as reported for several of the digital channels (e.g., 117-8, 117-10, 113-4, etc.). Why would the "analog" channels be reported this as "digital"? (that's assuming I am correctly interpreting "SD" as meaning "standard digital" ... which is not what this means??)

Welcome to OTW. They regularly move the digital channels around just to mess with their basic tier customers savvy enough to find them - because they hate us. And they take away as many freebies as they can (like digital versions of basic tier analog programming like NICK, TBS, TNT, etc) because they hate their customers. Come 2011 or 2012 (I'm not sure which) when all MSO cable systems must be digital, it will be interesting to see how OTW will contort themselves to screw the basic tier customers as hard as possible. I must admit that I simply do not have a deviant enough imagination to begin to guess at OTW's plans for that day. Again, in comparison to the widely hated MSO Comcast, OTW makes them look like lazy pikers when it comes to pure malice towards customers.

And "SD" stands for "Standard Definition" - which can be delivered as analog NTSC or digital ATSC. So "480i SD" alone tells you nothing about whether your signal is analog or digital.

What really needs to happen is for everyone involved to get off of their backsides and resolve the problems, or, pull the signal off of Directv all together and let us get the DNS service out here for High definition.

AMEN to that!


If anything the earliest KHNL and KFVE could be back up in HD would be Monday when Mr. Fink contacts DirecTV again. He did say tomorrow if they contact him on his personal phone but he said more then likely Monday.

Earlier reports said that the DirecTV/Dish uplink needed a feed on fiber. Has that changed? Does -anyone- really know wtf is going on (and have the cojones to post it here)?

--Michael

Earlier reports said that the DirecTV/Dish uplink needed a feed on fiber. Has that changed? Does -anyone- really know wtf is going on (and have the cojones to post it here)?

--Michael

I still think they need the fiber feed too. No one has specified as to how the HD feed of KFVE went on the air on Thrusday but it probably wasn't a fiber feed due to the fact that on Friday morning the HD feed went down.

I'm with everyone else. Still trying to find out wtf is going on with their HD feed and why it's so hard for KHNL & KFVE to do the job right like KGMB, KITV, KHON and PBS have.

UPDATE[QUOTE
I'm with everyone else. Still trying to find out wtf is going on with their HD feed and why it's so hard for KHNL & KFVE to do the job right like KGMB, KITV, KHON and PBS have.[/QUOTE]

I took the liberty of contacting Directv with the following question:

I have a question regarding the policy of Directv and delivery of High Definition local stations. I live in Hawaii and receive the Honoulu channels. ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX have all managed to provide the Directv uplink center with a reliable HD signal. However KHNL, the NBC affiliate just cannot seem to get their act together.
All we get is some down resolution feed of a High Definition feed that is virtually unviewable. The quality does not even match the DVBS-2 standard feed available on satellite AMC-4.
My question is this: Will Directv open a distant network (DNS) High Drefinition feed of the Super Bowl if KHNL cannot provide us with a decent HD signal ?

I willpost their answer. I expect some canned reply such as "we have no intentions at this time" but will post anyway.

UPDATE:

Somehow Directv understood my note to be asking for a waiver to receive the DNS channels for the Super Bowl. Well, I suspect that I would be more sucessful spitting into the wind than getting KHNL to approve a waiver. Back to the drawing board....

I am new to this forum so excuse my lack of knowledge. I moved from Albany NY to Montgomery, Ala. I used to have DirecTV in NY and Albany was a large enough place so that I could get my locals via the satellite. Montgomery does not have locals via the dish. I'd like to get DirecTV here but don't fully understand what I'd have to do if I converted from cable (Knology). My wife and I watch a lot of NBC & CBS programming, in addition to FX,USA, HGTV etc. Can someone give me a brief step-by-step of what'd be involved? Thank you.

I am new to this forum so excuse my lack of knowledge. I moved from Albany NY to Montgomery, Ala. I used to have DirecTV in NY and Albany was a large enough place so that I could get my locals via the satellite. Montgomery does not have locals via the dish. I'd like to get DirecTV here but don't fully understand what I'd have to do if I converted from cable (Knology). My wife and I watch a lot of NBC & CBS programming, in addition to FX,USA, HGTV etc. Can someone give me a brief step-by-step of what'd be involved? Thank you.



This Particular forum is for Hawaii. I think you might be best served by calling Directv and asking them what local channels you might get. ALso, Directv has an online site that you can log on to that will indicate which local channels you will recieve.

Good luck

FWIW I sent email to both fcc and khnl concerning lack of OTA signal for KHNL/KFVE and both admitted that OTA should not be available in Central Oahu from them. They are supposed to move the antenna higher up the ridge, but said that since there isn't any power or antenna propagation change not to expect any reception. I guess just another sign of how KHNL doesn't give a rat's about their viewers.

scott s.
.

FWIW I sent email to both fcc and khnl concerning lack of OTA signal for KHNL/KFVE and both admitted that OTA should not be available in Central Oahu from them. They are supposed to move the antenna higher up the ridge, but said that since there isn't any power or antenna propagation change not to expect any reception. I guess just another sign of how KHNL doesn't give a rat's about their viewers.

scott s.
.

With the relocation of the transmitters on Maui, all stations have cut off a large portion of the population from Haiku and farther east. The result is that either the folks out here pay the cable company or a satellite company.

And to think our tax dollars are subsidizing all of this.

One would think that at least KHNL would provide a decent signal to the satellite companies.

Somehow Directv understood my note to be asking for a waiver to receive the DNS channels for the Super Bowl. Well, I suspect that I would be more sucessful spitting into the wind than getting KHNL to approve a waiver. Back to the drawing board....

The only thing with that is I think DirecTV has to ask KHNL to approve the waiver for a DNS Channel and I really doubt they would approve it. If they do then at least we get the Super Bowl in HD.

I've given up on KHNL being HD on DirecTV for now. I doubt it will ever happen because it seems like KHNL is not making the effort to contact DirecTV and fix the problem.

I was also wondering could KHNL not be providing an HD signal to DirecTV due to their sponsorship from and UH sports PPV Deal on Oceanic Cable?
They've got a UH sports PPV Deal on Oceanic that isn't ava. to us on DirecTV so I'm wondering if indeed Oceanic slipped a check to KHNL & KFVE for exclusive rights to the HD signal without letting the public know.

It could be possible because Oceanic out numbers us guys on Satellite by I'd say at least 10 to 1.


UPDATE: After calling DirecTV again they said KHNL & KFVE and DirecTV do not have a contract to carry the HD signal for both channels.

That seems to be more true then the reasons DirecTV has been giving before like the station is not broadcasting in HD. The rep. obviously didn't know wether this was due to Oceanic or not. If you ask me it probably is due to Oceanic but then again my info has come before and nothing has happened in reguards to HD carriage.

With the relocation of the transmitters on Maui, all stations have cut off a large portion of the population from Haiku and farther east. The result is that either the folks out here pay the cable company or a satellite company.

The government kicked them off the mountain. The stations didn't want to move.

And to think our tax dollars are subsidizing all of this.

Subsidizing what? The converter box program is paid for by the spectrum auctions.

- Trip

[QUOTE=Trip in VA;15616051]The government kicked them off the mountain. The stations didn't want to move.

The Air Force, and the University of Hawaii did not want them there. If that is the entire government then fine by me. However the tree huggers and bird watchers had just as much impact because the stations wanted a couple of other places, but the environmentalists got involved and blocked all but the lowest point.



Subsidizing what? The converter box program is paid for by the spectrum auctions.



Let me see, the government auctions off the public airways, then claims that the money, from the sale of the citizens airways, funded the converter box program. Sounds like blue smoke and mirrors to me... If you really think that there are no tax dollars involved in a "government program" then I would have to strongly disagree.

All of that being said, the end result is that there is no "over the air TV" for about half of the geographical area of Maui...

-

The Air Force, and the University of Hawaii did not want them there. If that is the entire government then fine by me. However the tree huggers and bird watchers had just as much impact because the stations wanted a couple of other places, but the environmentalists got involved and blocked all but the lowest point.

Won't argue with that one.

Let me see, the government auctions off the public airways, then claims that the money, from the sale of the citizens airways, funded the converter box program. Sounds like blue smoke and mirrors to me... If you really think that there are no tax dollars involved in a "government program" then I would have to strongly disagree.

Well, given that the money is coming straight from Verizon and AT&T and not from your pocket or mine, I don't call it my tax dollars.

All of that being said, the end result is that there is no "over the air TV" for about half of the geographical area of Maui...

-

Yeah. Hopefully they'll do something about it (DTS?) but I'm guessing it's probably unlikely.

- Trip

I sent emails to KHNL and Direct-tv concerning the prospects of Direct-tv customers in Hawaii receiving KHNL in HD and here are their responses within the last few days:

(From Wed., Jan 21)

Aloha Mr. Jacinto,

KHNL has been attempting to determine exactly why DirecTV is capable of retransmitting KHNL’s digital SD signal, but somehow is not capable of receiving the KHNL HD signal. The process has been extremely frustrating, and at this point we can only beg your continued patience while the discussions between KHNL and DirecTV continue.


Dan Schmidt
Content Director
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Response (Jason H ID W2773) - 01/23/2009 09:30 AM
Dear Mr. Jacinto,

Thank you very much for writing. I understand that you would like KHNL in HD, and I'm very sorry that DIRECTV is unable to provide this for you. We can't currently offer all of your local channels in HD because our satellite capacity doesn't allow us to do that yet.

We're continuing to expand our HD capacity and hope to offer more HD channels in your area in the near future. However, we cannot comment on channels, national or local, that are in negotiations.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Jay H.
W2773
DIRECTV Customer Service

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

:mad::mad::mad:Looks like we're not going to see The Superbowl in HD if we have Direct-tv... unless a miracle happens:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I sent emails to KHNL and Direct-tv concerning the prospects of Direct-tv customers in Hawaii receiving KHNL in HD and here are their responses within the last few days:

(From Wed., Jan 21)

Aloha Mr. Jacinto,

KHNL has been attempting to determine exactly why DirecTV is capable of retransmitting KHNL’s digital SD signal, but somehow is not capable of receiving the KHNL HD signal. The process has been extremely frustrating, and at this point we can only beg your continued patience while the discussions between KHNL and DirecTV continue.


Dan Schmidt
Content Director
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Response (Jason H ID W2773) - 01/23/2009 09:30 AM
Dear Mr. Jacinto,

Thank you very much for writing. I understand that you would like KHNL in HD, and I'm very sorry that DIRECTV is unable to provide this for you. We can't currently offer all of your local channels in HD because our satellite capacity doesn't allow us to do that yet.

We're continuing to expand our HD capacity and hope to offer more HD channels in your area in the near future. However, we cannot comment on channels, national or local, that are in negotiations.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Jay H.
W2773
DIRECTV Customer Service

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

:mad::mad::mad:Looks like we're not going to see The Superbowl in HD if we have Direct-tv... unless a miracle happens:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Not to be a complete ahole here but I'm already one of those that's tired of waiting for KHNL HD on DirecTV. Luckily my DirecTV contract is over on Jan 31st. (2 yrs.) I'm one of those who is going to switch back to Oceanic. Oceanic added alot more HD channels in the last 2 years and they just added Speed HD which I've been waiting for. They're $80 bucks a month if you don't add preimums. Luckily I'm one of those who got installation on the 29th so I'll be getting the game in HD.

The only big loss in switching back is losing the NFL Network. DirecTV has way more HD but it doesn't seem like they are going to get it right and add KHNL & KFVE in HD anytime soon.

UPDATE[QUOTE

UPDATE:

Somehow Directv understood my note to be asking for a waiver to receive the DNS channels for the Super Bowl. Well, I suspect that I would be more sucessful spitting into the wind than getting KHNL to approve a waiver. Back to the drawing board....

Update:

Waiver approved.

Update:

Waiver approved.

Which channel will you guys be getting NBC West or East?

For you guys on Oceanic is SPEED HD (Channel 1214) on the air yet?

I know it was added to the Oceanic lineup on the website Oceanic.com but I wanted to know if it's on yet.

Got my letter from Oceanic that tells me that I'm eligible to receive a tuning adapter. I'm scheduling for both cablecard and tuning adapter installation. Their letter says that the TA needs to be installed through an appointment, no over the counter service of the TA yet.

Which channel will you guys be getting NBC West or East?

Receiving west feed in HD

Receiving west feed in HD

I'm happy you guys got the game in HD. At least DirecTV did something to give you guys a decent signal for the game. Is that for the state or just your reciever?

I'm happy you guys got the game in HD. At least DirecTV did something to give you guys a decent signal for the game. Is that for the state or just your reciever?


I'm not sure if it is my receiver only. It is channel 393 on Directv. It would be interesting to see if anyone else is receiving it.

I'm not sure if it is my receiver only. It is channel 393 on Directv. It would be interesting to see if anyone else is receiving it.

Here's a simple check but I can only confirm up until the 29th. Are you getting the signal now or only on game day. If it's game day only then I can't check for everyone.

Got my letter from Oceanic that tells me that I'm eligible to receive a tuning adapter. I'm scheduling for both cablecard and tuning adapter installation. Their letter says that the TA needs to be installed through an appointment, no over the counter service of the TA yet.

Hmmmm ... haven't heard anything yet.

Here's a simple check but I can only confirm up until the 29th. Are you getting the signal now or only on game day. If it's game day only then I can't check for everyone.

I am receiving the signal right now. I received the waiver postcard yesterday. I immediately checked and it was on...

Oceanic Time Warner got fined (http://thekonablog.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/oceanic-time-warner-gets-fined-by-the-fcc-again-fcc-still-has-not-addressed-hawaiian-telcoms-universal-service-fund-request-hawaii-super-ferrys-costs-continue-to-rise/) once again by the FCC.

"It looks like Oceanic Time Warner’s utter disregard of these previous FCC fines (here, and here) has caused the total amount of these fines to snowball, according to this Honolulu Star Bulletin article.

Oceanic originally was fined a paltry $7,500 for failing to notify the DCCA-CATV division within 30 days that they were going to introduce switched digital video here back on August 22,2008. Oceanic was subsequently fined (here, and here) an additional $40,000 on October 15, 2008 for reducing the amount of channels available to cable card users after the introduction of switched digital video to both the Kauai and central Oahu cable systems.

Fast forward to January 21,2009. The FCC has proceeded to give notice to Oceanic Time Warner that they will be seeking compensation for these previous fines that Oceanic disregarded (here,here, and here).The FCC has also given Oceanic notice that it will be fining them an additional $75,000 for disregarding these previous fines (here,here,and here)."

I am receiving the signal right now. I received the waiver postcard yesterday. I immediately checked and it was on...

Yeah it's only on your reciever if you're watching it on 393. Did they specify wether the waiver is for the months of January and Feburary or if it goes off after the Super Bowl.
If not maybe you'll have that channel for good.

Yeah it's only on your reciever if you're watching it on 393. Did they specify wether the waiver is for the months of January and Feburary or if it goes off after the Super Bowl.
If not maybe you'll have that channel for good.

There is no time limit indicated. It says "Waiver Status: Waiver granted by your local TV station." I suspect that when Directv requested the waiver for me, that they submitted a standard waiver request that did not specify Super Bowl or any time limits.

There is no time limit indicated. It says "Waiver Status: Waiver granted by your local TV station." I suspect that when Directv requested the waiver for me, that they submitted a standard waiver request that did not specify Super Bowl or any time limits.

Then you're in luck. You'll be probably keeping NBC in HD while everyone else on DirecTV is watching a SD pic on KHNL.

The Super Bowl was probably the reason though as to why you got it approved. I asked for NBC West HD so I could get an HD signal for NBC and they denied it saying I would be getting Prime Time programming before I am "Intended" to get it at the listed times in commercials and ads.

Got my letter from Oceanic that tells me that I'm eligible to receive a tuning adapter. I'm scheduling for both cablecard and tuning adapter installation. Their letter says that the TA needs to be installed through an appointment, no over the counter service of the TA yet.

I feel so relieved that I can finally blab that I've been beta testing the TA for the past month. I picked it up from my buddy at Oceanic and installed it myself. At first it seemed like the SDV HD channels weren't working, but then I realized that I didn't have the HD Pak on my cable cards. Once I got that enabled, everything just works like its supposed to.

It's a beautiful thing.

snakpak

Good to know that the HD Pak will work with the TA. The only bummer is that because of my swith to cablecard, I'll lose my Surf Pak discount for combined tv, internet, and phone. As a result of the loss of the discount, I'll probably switch back to Hawn Telcom for phone and internet and see if I can receive 11 megabit service for two years. I think that I'm close enough to a switching station for the 11 megabit to happen. It might be for selfish reasons, but Oceanic might want to reconsider their policy on their Surf Pak discount.

... but Oceanic might want to reconsider their policy on their Surf Pak discount.

discount... wishful thinking in lala land... Oceanic will never ever offer a discount that includes the use of a CableCARD and TA... it goes against the almighty Oceanic bu$ine$$ model.

Excellent news on the tuning adapters snakpak. Any word on when Oceanic will start using M-Cards? I really hate the idea of paying Oceanic for 2 regular Cablecards and the associated 'service duplication' fees and whatnot that come with it.

Hmmmm ... haven't heard anything yet.

Having said that, I come home today to a message on my answering machine inviting me to call to schedule an appointment for the install of the TA. :D

For you guys on Oceanic is SPEED HD (Channel 1214) on the air yet?

I know it was added to the Oceanic lineup on the website Oceanic.com but I wanted to know if it's on yet.

I'm shocked that I missed this, but Speed HD hasn't been added to the lineup yet. They said something like 60 days until it's live.

I can't believe that I'll be able to watch F1 this season in full widescreen format (but not in HD - I believe the resolution is something weird like 540i).

But still, those wacky '09 F1 cars should be fun to watch in widescreen during practice, qualifying and the race itself. This is great news for F1 fans!

Here's a link to the notice on Oceanic.com (scroll to the bottom): http://www.oceanic.com/OceanicWebApps/Television/Television.html

I can't believe that I'll be able to watch F1 this season in full widescreen format (but not in HD - I believe the resolution is something weird like 540i).
On DirecTV, SPEEDHD is in 720p.

On DirecTV, SPEEDHD is in 720p.

That's true, but the broadcast feed of F1 from Europe is set at a weird rate like 540p. This is for anyone who receives SpeedHD, but I'm not sure if they upsample it to 720p. I'm sure all of SpeedHD's other programming is sourced at 720p.

First Sci-Fi HD for BSG's last season, now F1 on SpeedHD. This is a good year for a tv geek like me.

delar,

You using a Series 3 or Tivo HD? I asked that they install an m-card, but I'll find out for sure on Friday.

Update: Good thing I called. They had scheduled me to have two single stream cards installed, but after a 10 minute check with a supervisor, they now have me scheduled for an m-card install. The CSRs are all learning as they go. My CSR said that yesterday was her first call for a TA install.

discount... wishful thinking in lala land... Oceanic will never ever offer a discount that includes the use of a CableCARD and TA... it goes against the almighty Oceanic bu$ine$$ model.

Yeah, it seems shortsighted on Oceanic's part, but I'm probably going to end up switching back to Hawn Tel because of the loss of the discount. Doesn't bother me.

delar,

You using a Series 3 or Tivo HD? I asked that they install an m-card, but I'll find out for sure on Friday.

Update: Good thing I called. They had scheduled me to have two single stream cards installed, but after a 10 minute check with a supervisor, they now have me scheduled for an m-card install. The CSRs are all learning as they go. My CSR said that yesterday was her first call for a TA install.

Good to know they're carrying M-cards now. I've got a Series 3 with two S-cards installed. I was hoping to switch to a single M-card and save on the extra fees, but then I found out that Series 3 will only run M-cards in single stream mode. Bummer.

So, does anyone know where to find the "free" 3D glasses for the super bowl commercials and upcoming Chuck episode?

FYI here:

http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/broadcasttelevision-200915113639-dreamworksmonster.html

And, here:

http://www.bigscreen.com/journal.php?id=1380

Oceanic Time Warner got fined (http://thekonablog.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/oceanic-time-warner-gets-fined-by-the-fcc-again-fcc-still-has-not-addressed-hawaiian-telcoms-universal-service-fund-request-hawaii-super-ferrys-costs-continue-to-rise/) once again by the FCC.

"It looks like Oceanic Time Warner’s utter disregard of these previous FCC fines (here, and here) has caused the total amount of these fines to snowball, according to this Honolulu Star Bulletin article..."

This is all a part of a national "GFY" that the MSOs are giving the FCC. Here is a 19 Jan 2009 letter from FCC Chairman Martin to Congress (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-288046A1.pdf) concerning this widespread ******** behavior by the MSOs. At this point they seem to be snubbing the FCC and daring Congress to step in. Either they think they have something on the new administration or they expect the same level of inattention as from the last administration. Possibly they believe that while the rest of the economy is on fire, people are losing their jobs and homes, businesses are failing, attention will be distracted so they MSOs can get away with murder. It's like the thief who goes to the scene of a house fire to quietly pick people's pockets while they are concerned about the safety of the fire's victims.

The FCC's letter is presented in a PDF file of a scanned image of the original. Here is the thesis of the message:

In short, cable customers have been receiving less from the cable companies but paying the same price or, in some cases, more.

Because the vast majority of cable operators did not fully respond to our LOI, we recently issued Notices of Apparent Liability against these operators for failing to respond to a Commission investigation. Misconduct of this type exhibits contempt for the Commission's authority and threatens to compromise the the Commission's ability to adequately investigate violations of its rules.

Consumers have seen their cable bills double over the last decade at the same time the costs for all other communications services have declined.

I tell you, it's comedy gold. Let's see if the pinheads in Congress get around to doing anything about this. Included in the PDF is a copy of a letter Consumers Union sent to Senators Inouye and Hutchison. I can't think of two bigger techno-Luddites that could almost guarantee inaction on this issue. Consumers Union even mentions OTW specifically for their pernicious behavior. Isn't that great! We rank at the top of the national scale for dirtbag MSOs! We're number 1!

Then you're in luck. You'll be probably keeping NBC in HD while everyone else on DirecTV is watching a SD pic on KHNL.

The Super Bowl was probably the reason though as to why you got it approved. I asked for NBC West HD so I could get an HD signal for NBC and they denied it saying I would be getting Prime Time programming before I am "Intended" to get it at the listed times in commercials and ads.

After reading this forum I applied for a waiver with Directv on Monday, January 26th and am now receiving the NBC HD West feed as of Tuesday, January 27th.

BTW in case it matters to KHNL in their quick granting of a waiver - I'm on Maui. Thank you KHNL - would have been nice for Sunday night football (when I originally requested a waiver) - but even a little late is very much appreciated.

I don't see why the FCC should have anything to do with CABLE operators.

scott s.
.

After reading this forum I applied for a waiver with Directv on Monday, January 26th and am now receiving the NBC HD West feed as of Tuesday, January 27th.

BTW in case it matters to KHNL in their quick granting of a waiver - I'm on Maui. Thank you KHNL - would have been nice for Sunday night football (when I originally requested a waiver) - but even a little late is very much appreciated.

I contacted KHNL to ask how long a waived NBC West Feed would be on. Dan Schmidt said that the feed will either be shut off on Feb 1st at 11:59 PM or on Feb 28th at 11:59 PM. They are indeed only granting waivers due to Super Bowl 43 hence why you're Sunday Night Football request was denied.

delar,

You using a Series 3 or Tivo HD? I asked that they install an m-card, but I'll find out for sure on Friday.

Update: Good thing I called. They had scheduled me to have two single stream cards installed, but after a 10 minute check with a supervisor, they now have me scheduled for an m-card install. The CSRs are all learning as they go. My CSR said that yesterday was her first call for a TA install.

Good to hear that. I'm very intested to know what you will be charged. Hopefully it's just for the one card.

I've been waiting for the TA and M-Cards to become available from Oceanic before making my first Tivo purchase.

I contacted KHNL to ask how long a waived NBC West Feed would be on. Dan Schmidt said that the feed will either be shut off on Feb 1st at 11:59 PM or on Feb 28th at 11:59 PM. They are indeed only granting waivers due to Super Bowl 43 hence why you're Sunday Night Football request was denied.

Could it be temporary, perhaps.

There is no such thing as a temporary waiver; so they would have to go back to Directv and rescind the waivers. A Directv representative reviewed the notes on my account, and they don't indicate that Directv must pull my access by a particular date. Furthermore I would think if they were only granting temporary waivers that automatically expire, Dan would know the specific date they expire (rather than saying the beginning or end of February) and it wouldn't have started until the day of the Super Bowl.

What's more likely is that once the KHNL HD feed is up, access to the west coast feed will likely end (which could be in February).

I guess only time will tell.

So, does anyone know where to find the "free" 3D glasses for the super bowl commercials and upcoming Chuck episode?

FYI here:

http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/broadcasttelevision-200915113639-dreamworksmonster.html

And, here:

http://www.bigscreen.com/journal.php?id=1380
=======================
I saw a sign by a box at the Don Quijote store in Waipahu yesterday.

[QUOTE=uhvblee;15670038]I contacted KHNL to ask how long a waived NBC West Feed would be on.

That is exactly why I debated (with my self) about posting the information to this site. Lesson learned I guess...

What really needs to happen is for everyone involved to get off of their backsides and resolve the problems, or, pull the signal off of Directv all together and let us get the DNS service out here for High definition.

Dan Schmidt said that the feed will either be shut off on Feb 1st at 11:59 PM or on Feb 28th at 11:59 PM.

Is it just me or should Mr. Schmidt be more concerned with getting Directv subscribers an KHNL HD feed rather than trying to time bomb the only NBC HD feed I've had since moving here?

. . . hence why your Sunday Night Football request was denied.

No, I think wiser minds prevailed for the Super Bowl - but the same train of thought should have applied during the regular season or at least during the last few weeks of match-ups in the regular season. My thinking, they would rather have me watch KHNL commercials which are probably more frequent during the regular season than during the Super Bowl. Here's a news flash - because of the picture quality, I haven't watched NBC except for one single football game; I'd rather watch the recaps on ESPN HD. I refuse to watch any NBC programing, unless I'm watching it on a SD TV. So dropping the West Coast feed without bringing up the KHNL feed will only deter me from watching NBC programing completely.

I contacted KHNL to ask how long a waived NBC West Feed would be on.

I'm with Maui Guy. I'm thankful that he [MauiGuy] posted the information and I certainly wouldn't have drawn attention to it by calling KHNL. What good does that serve? Honestly, did you call them up after getting a waiver yourself or did you just feel it was your due diligence to give KHNL a call?

If you would provide Dan's direct contact information and the contact information for the Directv representative that told you March would be the month of transition, I will be happy to exercise due diligence on your sources.

[QUOTE=uhvblee;15670038]I contacted KHNL to ask how long a waived NBC West Feed would be on.

That is exactly why I debated (with my self) about posting the information to this site. Lesson learned I guess...

My apologies go out to you if you regret posting the info now. As far as the date info I got for when the waiver goes off I do agree with Sprintszers. Dan and the KHNL guys should have an exact date rather then an estimate. Leaving the West HD feed on until KHNL goes up to HD here seems to be the right thing to do.

I didn't mention the forum posting when I asked. I just said "I'm considering asking for a waiver to get the Super Bowl in HD but I'd like to know how long the HD feed would be up before I ask DirecTV to send out the waiver." To me if I was only going to get the game in HD I wouldn't schedule my NBC recordings on NBC West HD and then have to cancel them if they pull the HD signal after the game.

I can see the reason for the negative attention during the recent time frame post has gotten. I don't blame everyone here for being mad and fustrated. I know now that my best bet would be just to not ask KHNL a minor question.

"Thank you for writing in to us. Federal law prohibits DIRECTV from providing distant network feeds from New York or Los Angeles in areas where we offer local channels. Because we carry local channels in Honolulu HI, we cannot provide you with this LA network. We will be unable to process your request. I apologize for any frustration you have experienced with this situation. Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to us."

I asked for a temporary West coast feed so i can watch the super bowl in HD. Federal Law? LOL. Any recommendations on how to submit/phrase my question? I was able to get one of the stations 2 years ago for about 3 months in HD before HD was available locally. The lady on the phone said she's submit a request for ALL the stations to be in HD, and CBS approved me -- the rest denied.

I really really really want the super bowl in HD. At least KHNL is SD digital now, the analog feed was so gross it made me torrent the sh..nevermind.. :-)

"Thank you for writing in to us. Federal law prohibits DIRECTV from providing distant network feeds from New York or Los Angeles in areas where we offer local channels. Because we carry local channels in Honolulu HI, we cannot provide you with this LA network. We will be unable to process your request. I apologize for any frustration you have experienced with this situation. Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to us."

I asked for a temporary West coast feed so i can watch the super bowl in HD. Federal Law? LOL. Any recommendations on how to submit/phrase my question? I was able to get one of the stations 2 years ago for about 3 months in HD before HD was available locally. The lady on the phone said she's submit a request for ALL the stations to be in HD, and CBS approved me -- the rest denied.

I really really really want the super bowl in HD. At least KHNL is SD digital now, the analog feed was so gross it made me torrent the sh..nevermind.. :-)

I know I'm not exactily on everyone's "buddy list" considering what my 2nd to last post caused. The Federal Law thing is really a bunch of BS. If it was a "Federal Law" KGMB (CBS) would have denied since we have KGMB in HD. You should try again and maybe ask a supervisor or hope the same lady doesn't answer again.

"Thank you for writing in to us. Federal law prohibits DIRECTV from providing distant network feeds from New York or Los Angeles in areas where we offer local channels. Because we carry local channels in Honolulu HI, we cannot provide you with this LA network.

Call Directv and ask for the DNS department. When you get through to the DNS department, you are requesting a waiver from the local NBC affiliate for the HD West Coast feed.

Okay guys, I'm stumped and need some help.

I am about to give up on this whole waiting for KHNL in HD and am trying to get the signal via antenna. Everything works great without the Directv receiver (HR20). KHNL comes in crystal clear with a signal strength at about 80 (the others are also in that range).

I plug the antenna into the back of the receiver and go through OTA setup. I input my Maui zip code and it comes up with Honolulu as my local market (all of Hawaii is in the Honolulu market - potential problem #1). Once Directv is done pulling the guide information from the satellite, I am able to detect the signal strengths of the various stations. KHNL is not listed. In its place is KHVODT on channel 13.1 (potential problem #2). The signal strength for KHVODT on 13.1 is zero (which may also be a problem - but I'll discuss more below).

Now even though KHNL 13.1 does not appear in the channel listing in the OTA setup screen, it now appears in the programming guide (albeit below KHVO). When I go to the other 13.1 channel (KHNL) I get nothing (Searching for Signal - 771). Similarly, KHVO also comes up with that error.

Thinking that perhaps Directv is mapping the channels from the actual channel rather (i.e. KHNL's is 16 on Maui) than the virtual channel (i.e. 13.1 on Maui), perhaps something is screwed up with the KHVO issue.

So I run this test: I input another location (Boston MA, Phoenix AZ, and Rochester NY). Each time I switch to one of these locals, the guide is updated reflecting their respective station's call signs. When I go to Phoenix's 13.1 - I get nothing, but if I go to their 7.1, I get Maui's 7.1 (Fox). Similar results with the other cities - the mapping is done correctly and I can get the equivalent Maui (virtual) channel with Directv thinking the receiver is either in Boston, Phoenix, or Rochester.

So why on earth can't KHNL come through? It has a greater signal strength the a majority of the other channels that work fine with the receiver. This whole 13.1 KHNL not showing up in the OTA setup is suspicious, but why wouldn't 13.1 work in the other cities I tested above that don't have two stations competing for 13.1? I can only come up with the following possibilities:

1. Directv and KHNL just simply don't get along and the receiver knows I trying to watch KHNL anytime I go to channel 13.1.

2. Directv has an issue regarding all OTA channel 13.1s.

3. The signal from KHNL (and only the signal from KHNL) which comes in fine straight to the television is FUBAR when it goes through the receiver.

Any ideas or suggestions?

BTW: I've done the obvious RBR, unplugging, re-setup, clear, setup repeatedly, etc).

In its place is KHVODT on channel 13.1 (potential problem #2). The signal strength for KHVODT on 13.1 is zero (which may also be a problem - but I'll discuss more below).

KHVO is 13-1 in Hilo, which is actually a repeater for KITV 4-1 in Honolulu. I think the station you want is KOGG (15-1) in Wailuku.

Thinking that perhaps Directv is mapping the channels from the actual channel rather (i.e. KHNL's is 16 on Maui) than the virtual channel (i.e. 13.1 on Maui), perhaps something is screwed up with the KHVO issue.

So I run this test: I input another location (Boston MA, Phoenix AZ, and Rochester NY). Each time I switch to one of these locals, the guide is updated reflecting their respective station's call signs. When I go to Phoenix's 13.1 - I get nothing, but if I go to their 7.1, I get Maui's 7.1 (Fox). Similar results with the other cities - the mapping is done correctly and I can get the equivalent Maui (virtual) channel with Directv thinking the receiver is either in Boston, Phoenix, or Rochester.

So why on earth can't KHNL come through?

Try using a Myrtle Beach SC or Norfolk VA zip code and see if going to 15-1 will get it for you.

- Trip

I had a question for directv HD users. How many dishes do you need to get full HD w/locals? I'm guessing you only need two 1.2m dishes? one for the 99/101/103 and another for 110/199? What confuses me is my neighbors house has a THIRD dish, but usually just a small dish that seems to have an LNB for a 101 only bird.

I tried doing a search but couldn't find anything. TIA

I had a question for directv HD users. How many dishes do you need to get full HD w/locals? I'm guessing you only need two 1.2m dishes? one for the 99/101/103 and another for 110/199? What confuses me is my neighbors house has a THIRD dish, but usually just a small dish that seems to have an LNB for a 101 only bird.

One 1.2m dish is needed. That's for 99/101/103. A second dish for 110/119 is no longer needed for ordinary English language programming, since the mpeg2 HD channels on 110/119 are now also available in mpeg4 from the new satellite D11. I don't know what your neighbor's other dish is for -- perhaps international programming of some sort?

thanks for the quick response.

As for the other dish, I was just thinking it was some type of international programming too. There are a lot of filipinos who like watching TFC.

KHVO is 13-1 in Hilo, which is actually a repeater for KITV 4-1 in Honolulu. I think the station you want is KOGG (15-1) in Wailuku.



Try using a Myrtle Beach SC or Norfolk VA zip code and see if going to 15-1 will get it for you.

- Trip

Well I had a nice response going but I timed out.

For whatever reason I'm picking up KHNL 13.1 and not KOGG 15.1. KOGG does not show up through direct input into the TV or through input into the receiver (using another locale). Perhaps I'm in the shadow of the Maui repeaters - but I'm surprised at how strong the KHNL signal is.

Would someone in Honolulu confirm they are picking up KHNL 13.1 through their HR20 receiver? This will help to eliminate if it my receiver or multiple receivers in either blaming the KHNL for becoming FUBAR through the HR20 or simply HR20s aren't playing well with channel 13.1 (perhaps because of a software glitch).

Thanks for you help.

Try Albuquerque NM and try 13-1 on that one. If you're in Maui and you managed to get 7-1, I mean, KOGG is coming from the exact same place. What other stations do you get with it hooked straight into the set? I'm saying to try Albuquerque because if you're getting all Maui but also getting just 13-1, maybe they're not mapping properly (mapping DT-16 to 13-1).

- Trip

Well I had a nice response going but I timed out.

For whatever reason I'm picking up KHNL 13.1 and not KOGG 15.1. KOGG does not show up through direct input into the TV or through input into the receiver (using another locale). Perhaps I'm in the shadow of the Maui repeaters - but I'm surprised at how strong the KHNL signal is.

Would someone in Honolulu confirm they are picking up KHNL 13.1 through their HR20 receiver? This will help to eliminate if it my receiver or multiple receivers in either blaming the KHNL for becoming FUBAR through the HR20 or simply HR20s aren't playing well with channel 13.1 (perhaps because of a software glitch).

Thanks for you help.

I'm on Maui and I receive KHNL-HD on 13-1 KHVODT with signal strength of 62-68 on the HR20.
DirecTV's channel map is wrong on some other channels as well.

Where are you located?

--Michael

thanks for the quick response.

As for the other dish, I was just thinking it was some type of international programming too. There are a lot of filipinos who like watching TFC.

Any news on the H20 loss of audio on PBS?

Just a bit of info. I thought I'd pass on-

KHNL aired a story today at 5 as to why DirecTV and Dish have no HD signal and John Fink pretty much gave no info. other then the fact that DirecTV and Dish have no employees on island so communication is being done through phone and email. He claims it is very fustrating.

To me that was kinda troubling to have that said because it doesn't seem like KHNL & KFVE will be HD soon. Then again it wasn't like anyone didn't know they wouldn't be HD soon.

If you guys wanna see the story with pretty much no info I'm sure it will replay at 6 & 10 PM on KHNL and at 6:30 & 9:00 PM on KFVE today.

Try Albuquerque NM and try 13-1 on that one. If you're in Maui and you managed to get 7-1, I mean, KOGG is coming from the exact same place. What other stations do you get with it hooked straight into the set? I'm saying to try Albuquerque because if you're getting all Maui but also getting just 13-1, maybe they're not mapping properly (mapping DT-16 to 13-1).

- Trip

Ok, all of the channels I get (FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC) are all Maui based after researching the physical channels. The virtual channels are not the same as those published by the FCC and only KAII is broadcasting its repeater call-sign (all the others are broadcasting the Honolulu call-signs).

When I researched KRQE-DT in Albuquerque I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping . . . . . . but no avail. I'll be searching for a DT-16 to 15.1 shortly in a major area to see if it works - but I'm starting to have my doubts.

I'm on Maui and I receive KHNL-HD on 13-1 KHVODT with signal strength of 62-68 on the HR20.
DirecTV's channel map is wrong on some other channels as well.

Where are you located?

--Michael

Upcountry.

Odd that I have a stronger signal (measured by direct input into the TV) yet it doesn't come through the receiver on either 13.1 (KHNL or KHVO). I'm starting to think it's my receiver and I am having Directv send a test receiver via FedEx.

Given your response Michael, it looks like we might need to put pressure on Directv's engineers to update the programming guide so that it can reflect that KHNL rather than KHVO should be occupying 13.1.

Thanks guys for your help. It's frustrating, especially considering that the one fricking channel that I want is the one that's causing problems. Murphy's law at its best. I'll keep you posted on the hunt for DT 16 to 15.1 and if it's the receiver. :confused:

When I researched KRQE-DT in Albuquerque I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping . . . . . . but no avail. I'll be searching for a DT-16 to 15.1 shortly in a major area to see if it works - but I'm starting to have my doubts.

That's why I suggested Norfolk or Myrtle Beach. Or Las Vegas. Or Lafayette LA.

- Trip

Just a bit of info. I thought I'd pass on-

KHNL aired a story today at 5 as to why DirecTV and Dish have no HD signal and John Fink pretty much gave no info. other then the fact that DirecTV and Dish have no employees on island so communication is being done through phone and email. He claims it is very fustrating.

To me that was kinda troubling to have that said because it doesn't seem like KHNL & KFVE will be HD soon. Then again it wasn't like anyone didn't know they wouldn't be HD soon.

If you guys wanna see the story with pretty much no info I'm sure it will replay at 6 & 10 PM on KHNL and at 6:30 & 9:00 PM on KFVE today.

If you would publish Dan's contact information (whatever you have) I think we should start a campaign that until they get the signal up, they should let us keep the West Coast feed.

At this point it doesn't appear that there is any motivation on their part to play nice with Directv. I think that if they do pull our feed, it might be time to bring NBC corporate into the game as I know there are likely others like me that can't stand the picture quality (although a little better) of KHNL and refuse to watch it as much as I would/could if they went HD.

Without knowing the full/inside story but understanding in general terms the technology and economics of the issue, Directv has no incentives to not put KHNL in HD. We are already occupying the space on the MPEG4 satellite broadcasting a SD signal (so capacity isn't an issue - unless Directv is counting on these SD locals to remain SD forever); I doubt KHNL is requesting a obscene amount of money for HD rights otherwise KHNL/Directv/Dish would be pretty vocal about that (assuming of course contract negotiations haven't been going on for the last two years); I think it ultimately comes down to the technical experience at KHNL (perhaps they should consult with and pay whomever helped the other locals).

That's why I suggested Norfolk or Myrtle Beach. Or Las Vegas. Or Lafayette LA.

- Trip

Didn't research those but I did try em (I thought you had only given me 15.1 channels rather than DT 16--> 15.1). Dang.

Any news on the H20 loss of audio on PBS?

The problem went "away" and the hotels haven't complained lately. Of course sometimes they don't say anything for days....

DirecTv did send us some "upgraded h21" with the "latest and greatest" hardware and software. Don't know how much help it would be since we were having problems with both h20/h21s.

If you would publish Dan's contact information (whatever you have) I think we should start a campaign that until they get the signal up, they should let us keep the West Coast feed.

At this point it doesn't appear that there is any motivation on their part to play nice with Directv. I think that if they do pull our feed, it might be time to bring NBC corporate into the game as I know there are likely others like me that can't stand the picture quality (although a little better) of KHNL and refuse to watch it as much as I would/could if they went HD.

Without knowing the full/inside story but understanding in general terms the technology and economics of the issue, Directv has no incentives to not put KHNL in HD. We are already occupying the space on the MPEG4 satellite broadcasting a SD signal (so capacity isn't an issue - unless Directv is counting on these SD locals to remain SD forever); I doubt KHNL is requesting a obscene amount of money for HD rights otherwise KHNL/Directv/Dish would be pretty vocal about that (assuming of course contract negotiations haven't been going on for the last two years); I think it ultimately comes down to the technical experience at KHNL (perhaps they should consult with and pay whomever helped the other locals).

I called the station and asked who would know and they said Dan Schmidt would know about HD feeds and that they rec'd alot of calls. (The Content Director) 808-847-3246 (This is the General Newsroom Line.) I don't have a direct line to Dan.

You can also email info8@khnl.com.
I think his email address is dschmidt@khnl.com because I emailed John Fink a question and his address is jfink@khnl.com.

I agree with you on the picture quality too. It was horrible last year (didn't even look like 480i quality) and even though it's still bad at least some of the programing looks like it's in 480i.

There was a story about this issue on KHNL today. http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=9758431

There was a story about this issue on KHNL today. http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=9758431

I just read that article. I am sorry, but it sounds like more excuses to me. Every other station can accomplish the task, except for KHNL.

It is difficult to describe the frustration I feel when I hear these clowns try to deflect the problem to some one else. Honestly they sound like a bunch of preschoolers.

The article states that few of us have dishes, and most have cable. Ok so what? If they cannot provide HD for us then they should grant the waivers for everyone.

In my opinion they are a bunch of self serving A**e*.

Sorry for complaining, I know this is supposed to be paradise, but, it is time to get out of the dark ages....

Call Directv and ask for the DNS department. When you get through to the DNS department, you are requesting a waiver from the local NBC affiliate for the HD West Coast feed.

I feel like i had to beg, kick, and scream to get the person on the phone to transfer me. I finally was able to confuse her enough that she agreed to transfer me to the DNS department. She was arguing with things such as "you already have locals in HD."

Eventually, she said she'd transfer me to the "HD DNS eligibility line." After transfer, the woman on the phone said she would request a waiver. UNFORTUNATELY, it won't be granted for 30 days or more.

Guess its SD for me :(

I feel like i had to beg, kick, and scream to get the person on the phone to transfer me. I finally was able to confuse her enough that she agreed to transfer me to the DNS department. She was arguing with things such as "you already have locals in HD."

Eventually, she said she'd transfer me to the "HD DNS eligibility line." After transfer, the woman on the phone said she would request a waiver. UNFORTUNATELY, it won't be granted for 30 days or more.

Guess its SD for me :(

Same for me... this would be my 3rd waiver request... First I missed The Olympics in HD, then I missed NBC Sunday Night football in HD, then now the Superbowl.

I've emailed people at KHNL - that Shimogawa reporter, Schmidt guy, and even Leland Kim. I've also emailed Direct-tv at least 7 times concerning this issue. I almost feel like going on KGMB or something and do a phone interview slamming both Direct-tv and KHNL.

Same for me... this would be my 3rd waiver request... First I missed The Olympics in HD, then I missed NBC Sunday Night football in HD, then now the Superbowl.

I've emailed people at KHNL - that Shimogawa reporter, Schmidt guy, and even Leland Kim. I've also emailed Direct-tv at least 7 times concerning this issue. I almost feel like going on KGMB or something and do a phone interview slamming both Direct-tv and KHNL.

Maybe we could pool money and run the cable ourselves between the facilities? Is that still the issue? I don't have a clue what the new problem is since the analog to digital switch already occurred (but not the hd format).

I thought KHNL shared the New Studio with KFVE, if this is correct and KFVE is in HD on Dish, what is the problem with us getting KHNL in HD

Just talked to KGMB... they were actually surprised at the situation. They said that when the sports person comes in after lunch today, they'll give me a call possibly for a phone interview, if they choose to do a story on it.

I hope I can have the opportunity to voice out. At least I can slam those KHNL guys for making all these excuses...:mad:

At least you get KHNL in SD. For us OTA in central Oahu, when analog signal went down we lost all KHNL/KFVE.

scott s.
.

Maybe we could pool money and run the cable ourselves between the facilities? Is that still the issue? I don't have a clue what the new problem is since the analog to digital switch already occurred (but not the hd format).

I wonder how accurate this wikipedia entry for KFVE is?

"Digital television
In 2009, KFVE left channel 5 and moved to channel 23 when the analog to digital transition was completed on January 15, 2009.[1]

In December 2008, KFVE began brocasting in HD due to the debut of their KFVE news at 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM in HD. On January 15th, DirecTV was transferred from KFVE's Analog signal to their Digital and HD signal due to the analog shutdown. The HD signal of KFVE was pulled off of DirecTV on Friday January 16th, due to KFVE & KHNL not agreeing to a contract for carriage of KFVE & KHNL's HD signal. KFVE has been restored on DirecTV with a Standard Definition Digital signal."

If you look at the Revision History, the part about the contract disagreement was added by 70.212.177.197 on Jan22.
Hard to tell who that really is...they're a Verizon Wireless subscriber.

nslookup 70.212.177.197 Canonical Name:197.sub-70-212-177.myvzw.com

Google says:
Your search - 197.sub-70-212-177.myvzw.com - did not match any documents.Your search - 70.212.177.197 - did not match any documents.

Anyone got a contact at Verizon Wireless? ;)

I wonder how accurate this wikipedia entry for KFVE is?

"Digital television
In 2009, KFVE left channel 5 and moved to channel 23 when the analog to digital transition was completed on January 15, 2009.[1]

In December 2008, KFVE began brocasting in HD due to the debut of their KFVE news at 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM in HD. On January 15th, DirecTV was transferred from KFVE's Analog signal to their Digital and HD signal due to the analog shutdown. The HD signal of KFVE was pulled off of DirecTV on Friday January 16th, due to KFVE & KHNL not agreeing to a contract for carriage of KFVE & KHNL's HD signal. KFVE has been restored on DirecTV with a Standard Definition Digital signal."

If you look at the Revision History, the part about the contract disagreement was added by 70.212.177.197 on Jan22.
Hard to tell who that really is...they're a Verizon Wireless subscriber.

nslookup 70.212.177.197 Canonical Name:197.sub-70-212-177.myvzw.com

Google says:
Your search - 197.sub-70-212-177.myvzw.com - did not match any documents.Your search - 70.212.177.197 - did not match any documents.

Anyone got a contact at Verizon Wireless? ;)

Honestly I posted that on Wikipedia because I was just posting the info. I got from DirecTV and KHNL.

Obviously it was the wrong info.
The operator at DirecTV said no contract was agreed on and then now they say well KHNL & KFVE are not in HD and all this other crap.

Obviously I put the wrong info. up but it was in "HD" on the 15th at night and there are other people who would agree that it was and then it was pulled off early the next morning then restored in SD so at the time the contract excuse seemed to be true.

Ulike other people I don't post anything on wiki without word from the company. Obviously the company was wrong for whatever reason they have.

In turn I posted the wrong info. I accept full responsibility for the error but it was in "HD" and then pulled from what a DirecTV customer rep said via phone was a "failure to agree on a contract for HD carriage."

So in the end my fault, my error and no harm meant.

Honestly I posted that on Wikipedia ...
Aha! It was you. Well, thanks for owning up, and I assume you'll remove the incorrect information you put up on Wikipedia. I guess you've learned the difference between what is plausible and what is true.

Without knowing the full/inside story ...

Aye, there's the rub.
So, what -do- we know?
Some here can remember when DISH attempted to uplink the HD feed of KHNL. Dropped out and pixelated too much and was abandoned.

We know that both DISH and DirecTV use Net Enterprise, 1132 Bishop St. Suite 700 as their 'Collection Facility'. (See the Excel Worksheets at http://www.mstv.org/cablesat.php )
So I think we can assume Net Enterprise uses off-air antennas to capture the HD feeds.
Charles O said so and also said that fiber needed to be run from KHNL's studio to Bishop St.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14040953
Looks like a variation of scenario #3 has played out as some of us thought at the time he posted that. Some of us also thought that the expense of running that fiber would be too great for the parties involved and wouldn't get done.

Tvfool.com shows KHNL ~10 dB down from KGMB at Net Enterprise (I used 100 ft. AGL antenna height), but at a higher Noise Margin than some stations I can receive here on Maui at my location.

Net Enterprise has folks that know TCP/IP, so the RF expertise must come from ?

We've also heard from DirecTV that the Hd feed wouldn't be available until March or April...sounds like Spring to me.
From the Maui News:http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/514241.html?nav=5031

"Some residents on Oahu lost signals from NBC affiliate KHNL-TV because its digital tower isn't high enough, said John Fink, the station's president and general manager. The tower will be moved to a higher elevation in spring, and coverage should improve then, he said."

I think it ultimately comes down to the technical experience at KHNL (perhaps they should consult with and pay whomever helped the other locals).

And I've come to exactly the opposite conclusion. The Engineers at KHNL live and breath RF and the chance of DISH/DirecTV finding that expertise is slim to none, especially if they recruit from their 'Satellite Installer' base.

From:http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=9758431

"KHNL-K5 managers have been in contact with both satellite providers, but they have received no clear answer as to why this is happening.
We've been offering our crew to go and do whatever is necessary to make sure it's there, certainly there is time for the Superbowl, it doesn't look like that's going to happen," KHNL/K5 general manager John Fink said.
One of the difficulties is there are no Dish Network/Direct TV employees in Hawaii," Fink said. "They use a third party service here, we're on the phone and working through e-mail trying to get this issue resolved."

If tvfool.com's signal strengths are even half-way close to reality, I'd bet real money I could get the signal for $200-500 using a Winegard HD 9095P UHF Yagi (or 'stacking' a couple or four) and a Channel Master CM-7777 preamp.
But I'm coming up on 55 years of RF experience and I know how to stack antennas.
Sorry to be so long-winded.

--Michael

Aha! It was you. Well, thanks for owning up, and I assume you'll remove the incorrect information you put up on Wikipedia. I guess you've learned the difference between what is plausible and what is true.

Yep I removed the contract info excuse. I left the HD signal fact up but put "removed for unknown reasons."

Aye, there's the rub.



And I've come to exactly the opposite conclusion. The Engineers at KHNL live and breath RF and the chance of DISH/DirecTV finding that expertise is slim to none, especially if they recruit from their 'Satellite Installer' base.

From:http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=9758431

"KHNL-K5 managers have been in contact with both satellite providers, but they have received no clear answer as to why this is happening.
We've been offering our crew to go and do whatever is necessary to make sure it's there, certainly there is time for the Superbowl, it doesn't look like that's going to happen," KHNL/K5 general manager John Fink said.
One of the difficulties is there are no Dish Network/Direct TV employees in Hawaii," Fink said. "They use a third party service here, we're on the phone and working through e-mail trying to get this issue resolved."

If tvfool.com's signal strengths are even half-way close to reality, I'd bet real money I could get the signal for $200-500 using a Winegard HD 9095P UHF Yagi (or 'stacking' a couple or four) and a Channel Master CM-7777 preamp.
But I'm coming up on 55 years of RF experience and I know how to stack antennas.
Sorry to be so long-winded.

--Michael

Michael,

While you have me convinced that the problem may be at the uplink facility as opposed to khnl, I think a little better PR could be done by the NBC folks.

My question is this:

If they cannot provide their service for the "small number of" folks with satellite service, then why are they so insistant that folks cannot get a waiver for HD only?

What is the point of not granting the waiver? The arguement seems to be that folks would not see the local commercials. Heck they just said that the number of satellite customers is small. Not much economical impact there...

Here's a headline. If I cannot see it in HD, it ain't gonna get watched

I would think that granting the waiver would win them a little positive PR.


You already know what I can receive and not receive at my place, I am only speaking as an advocate for the blanket granting of waivers for HD until such time as they can fix their problems.

Bob

Michael,

While you have me convinced that the problem may be at the uplink facility as opposed to khnl, I think a little better PR could be done by the NBC folks.

My question is this:

If they cannot provide their service for the "small number of" folks with satellite service, then why are they so insistant that folks cannot get a waiver for HD only?

What is the point of not granting the waiver? The arguement seems to be that folks would not see the local commercials. Heck they just said that the number of satellite customers is small. Not much economical impact there...

Here's a headline. If I cannot see it in HD, it ain't gonna get watched

I would think that granting the waiver would win them a little positive PR.



Definitely. And I'm not saying KHNL's hands are totally clean here either.
-Someone- in management over there could have escaleted the issue with DISH/DirecTV's management long ago before this brouhaha erupted over the Super Bowl.
I guess it's easier to point fingers and issue PR statements though.<sigh>

-Someone- in management over there could have escaleted the issue with DISH/DirecTV's management long ago before this brouhaha erupted over the Super Bowl.
>

Well, I hope the folks that are displeased email and call khnl to express their feelings.

The wheel that squeaks the loudest gets the grease?

Or is that the wheel that squeaks the loudest gets the shaft..........

More confusion.
I just played back KFVE's 6:30PM news that I recorded on DISH and DirecTV last night.

DISH Network channel 5671 was definitely HD. It appears the signal is weak since there was a horizontal line or two of blocks every 30 secs.- minute.

DirecTV was definitely 480i. Audio was horribly out of sync and about a millions dBs down from DISH Network.

Tvfool.com says KHNL is .7dB down from KFVE at Net Enterprise. Starting to sound like the satellite world where 1 dB means a lot.<g>

Update: Good thing I called. They had scheduled me to have two single stream cards installed, but after a 10 minute check with a supervisor, they now have me scheduled for an m-card install. The CSRs are all learning as they go. My CSR said that yesterday was her first call for a TA install.

So, what happened? Your silence has me concerned.

Ran into a snag. When trying to insert a cable card into Slot 1 of my Tivo HD, we found that there was a manufacturing defect and the card wouldn't properly seat in the slot. Slot 2 worked fine, but Slot 1 was borked. I had to pack the unit to get it ready for return to Amazon. My saga continues.

I got to at least see the tuning adapter. Simple device, only a cable in and cable out, but it was quite a bit bigger than I imagined. Hopefully others can tell about their experience with cable cards and tuning adapters.

Ran into a snag. When trying to insert a cable card into Slot 1 of my Tivo HD, we found that there was a manufacturing defect and the card wouldn't properly seat in the slot. Slot 2 worked fine, but Slot 1 was borked. I had to pack the unit to get it ready for return to Amazon. My saga continues.

I got to at least see the tuning adapter. Simple device, only a cable in and cable out, but it was quite a bit bigger than I imagined. Hopefully others can tell about their experience with cable cards and tuning adapters.

My install date is coming up this Wed.

Sorry to hear that bueller. Did the tech bring an m-card to install? Does the Tivo HD require the m-card to be installed in slot #1?

Spleen, look forward to hearing your results in a few days.

I'm getting the Superbowl on DirecTV on channel 393.

Sorry to hear that bueller. Did the tech bring an m-card to install? Does the Tivo HD require the m-card to be installed in slot #1?

Second question first, yes, the m-card should be used in Slot 1. The Tivo HD actually tells you this when you open up the panel to get to the cable card slots. Back to the first question, no. They didn't have the note to include an m-card on my order. The guy had a couple of s-cards on his truck, but it was all moot since my Slot 1 was unable to accept any kind of card. It was weird. It seems that eject mechanism was in the midst of the pins that are supposed to go into the cable card. The ejector is supposed to be on the far left of all of the pins, but the one in my Slot 1 was sitting within all of the pins. Here's a picture of it. (http://www.menehunemac.com/slot1.jpg) You can see a few pins on the left of the white square. The white square is a solid piece of plastic that I think ejects the card, but it's supposed to be on the far left of all the pins. Here's a poor image of Slot 2 (http://www.menehunemac.com/slot2.jpg) with the plastic in the correct position. There was no way to work around this one. Hopefully the Oceanic techs will be a lot smarter by the time they come back around to me again.

Thanks to Google, I just read you're Tivo forum posts. It doesn't appear to be a widespread issue. Just bad luck on your part, I guess. Replacement unit should be good to go. I'm also kinda wondering if Oceanic really does have m-cards on hand despite what you were told. Spleen's install should clear the air on that one.

Thanks to Google, I just read you're Tivo forum posts. It doesn't appear to be a widespread issue. Just bad luck on your part, I guess. Replacement unit should be good to go. I'm also kinda wondering if Oceanic really does have m-cards on hand despite what you were told. Spleen's install should clear the air on that one.

Actually, it won't help from that point, sorry. I've got two s-cards in my Tivo S3. Just waiting on the TA.

We lost KBS World a couple of weeks ago; it had been on Oceanic clear-QAM at 106-8. Is anyone else still getting this, or has Oceanic simply yanked it for non-digital subscribers? (We still get KBFD, but the show my kid likes is on KBS World.)
Thanks.

We lost KBS World a couple of weeks ago; it had been on Oceanic clear-QAM at 106-8. Is anyone else still getting this, or has Oceanic simply yanked it for non-digital subscribers? (We still get KBFD, but the show my kid likes is on KBS World.)
Thanks.
I think it finally got yanked, unfortunately. It jumped from 106-8 to 84 something a few weeks back and was still in the clear for a few days in that spot. Then it disappeared. From my last scan it looks like Oceanic has pretty much whittled down the clear QAM to the local channels.

another directv question for you guys. On lyngsat.com hawaii locals are listed on the 103 satellite (spaceway 1). We were told by our engineers that hawaii locals were on the 99. Was it always on 103? That would explain the reason why I could never find hawaii locals listed under 99 on lyngsat when we were first doing installations a year ago.

another directv question for you guys. On lyngsat.com hawaii locals are listed on the 103 satellite (spaceway 1). We were told by our engineers that hawaii locals were on the 99.
According to the document 1230764330 (http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16878&d=1230764330) referred to at dbs transponder maps (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=148867), Hawaii locals are on transponders 17 and 18 on D11, which I think is at 99 degrees.

Actually, it won't help from that point, sorry. I've got two s-cards in my Tivo S3. Just waiting on the TA.

Oh yeah. TA only.

i got my Tuning Adapter today, install took about 45 minutes because of some database problem. Had to reboot my Tivo HD and sign up for the "HD package for CableCard" to get food network HD, espn HD etc. In theory its straight forward:

1. install TA between wall and tivo; plug in USB.
2. Make sure you have mcard; if not upgrade.
3. call up CableCard group with serial number from TA to associate TA & mcard.
4. Blinking green status light goes solid. voila stations.
5. Call oceanic an hour later to add "HD pack for cable card"

In practice it took the guy 30 minutes to get from 2 to 4. Took me <10 to get from 1 to 2. I have no idea why i needed the tech here when i plugged everything in myself. He refused to go behind my rack because "I no can fit brah" despite the 3ft clearance all around.

Initially, it took a few seconds to switch to TA stations "e.g. 1007 to 1321" but now there's no delay. I can now tune in sleuth; ovation; FLIXP; and all the HD packages. Had to reboot my tivo once after the TA was installed; tech said it wasn't necessary but after 15 minutes it still wasn't working so i did it anyway. Techs had no idea what they were doing onsite tech and over the phone tech. Attached is a pic back and front of the units.

In terms of wiring, it has the USB interface (obviously), cable in from the wall and cable out to tivo. Sorry the pic of the back is messy and fuzzy but i don't have much space back there to do a good pic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormyteacup/sets/72157613301332750/

You don't NEED a m-card, do you? That might be a problem since I can't install a m-card in my S3.

You don't NEED a m-card, do you? That might be a problem since I can't install a m-card in my S3.
I don't think you need it, but the tech said it was part of his checklist. Then again, I had to lend him a computer so he could check a FAQ while he was here, so I take his "checklist" with a large pinch (not grain) of salt.

5. Call oceanic an hour later to add "HD pack for cable card"

Oh dear. I hope that doesn't mean any 'special' pricing above and beyond the regular HD pack. Thanks for the update Ricky.

My tuning adapter install was last Friday for my TiVo HD and my Series 3. Oceanic DOES have M-Cards; my TiVo HD has had an M-Card since June '08, while my S3 still has two S-Cards.

Anyway, my tuning adapter install was a cluster****. Tech came, "installed" the tuning adapters, but the neither of the TiVos could see them. We rebooted the TiVos and the tuning adapters several times apiece, but no luck. Finally the tech said that he'd call in for a supervisor to make a visit, and left. I was on the phone with TiVo customer support at the time, and they inspired me to try switching the USB jacks, since both TiVos also have wireless adapters. I look behind the living room TiVo and discover that the tech jammed the USB plug from the tuning adapter into the ethernet port. I pull it out and actually put it into the USB port, and voila: the TiVo sees the tuning adapter. I go into the bedroom and check: same thing.

So the tuning adapters MOSTLY work. I still don't get FUSE for some incalculable reason, and I had to have the CableCards in the bedroom TiVo hit again in order for all of the SDV HD channels to show up, but it seems to mostly work now, no thanks to the tech.

csimonx - I am so glad I got to install my TA myself!

And your response indirectly answered spleen93's question about needing M-cards. TAs will work with S-cards just fine.

another directv question for you guys. On lyngsat.com hawaii locals are listed on the 103 satellite (spaceway 1). We were told by our engineers that hawaii locals were on the 99. Was it always on 103? That would explain the reason why I could never find hawaii locals listed under 99 on lyngsat when we were first doing installations a year ago.

Keep in mind that there are two satellites co-located at ~99 deg., Spaceway2/DirecTV11 and two at ~103, Spaceway1 and DirecTV10.
Also keep in mind that lyngsat.com's channel listings are for the -combined- birds at that slot.

And as one of the posters at the excellent link posted by Greg says, "... As I certainly realize this is hard work sorting all this out. And considering that not only is DirecTV of absolutely no assistance in this endeavour, but to complicate matters they are constantly moving things around with up there with the satellites and transponder mappings.", 'a year ago' is a long time.

This helps to understand what I said at the beginning of this post:
http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16882&d=1230764574
but as you can see from the conflicting info on the HI locals, you need to get a contact at DirecTV (who has a contact at their NOC).
Good luck with that.

--Michael

This helps to understand what I said at the beginning of this post:
http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16882&d=1230764574
.

Not sure what's up with that link, so I attached the .pdf.

This was interesting. I haven't verified it, but it could be helpful if it's close to being correct: http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels

csimonx - I am so glad I got to install my TA myself!

And your response indirectly answered spleen93's question about needing M-cards. TAs will work with S-cards just fine.

Thank goodness. I'll have to double check that the tech doesn't try shoving the TA's USB plug into a port where it doesn't belong! (though my Ethernet port is in use so at least I won't have to worry about that - whew)

Aloha group,

I'm doing some research regarding where on Oahu would be the best location to pick up the major OTAs using a simple indoor or a rooftop multi element antenna. I've inputted some random addresses into tvfool.com and antennaweb.org but would also like to hear some real world reception stories. These are the channels that I definitely want to pick up:

KITV-DT
KGMB-DT
KHNL-DT
KHON-DT
KHET-DT
KAAH-DT
KIKU-DT
KPXO-DT
KFVE-DT

Thanks in advance for any infomation you can provide.

Aloha group,

I'm doing some research regarding where on Oahu would be the best location to pick up the major OTAs using a simple indoor or a rooftop multi element antenna. I've inputted some random addresses into tvfool.com and antennaweb.org but would also like to hear some real world reception stories. These are the channels that I definitely want to pick up:

KITV-DT
KGMB-DT
KHNL-DT
KHON-DT
KHET-DT
KAAH-DT
KIKU-DT
KPXO-DT
KFVE-DT

Thanks in advance for any infomation you can provide.

Seems like a strange question. Do you have a choice of multiple locations that you can move to and you're trying to decide which one based on whether you can pick up OTA from there?

FWIW, I tried picking up OTA in Ewa Beach with a indoor antenna (Terk antenna and a Silver Sensor, I think) and was only able to pick up about 2-3 stations.

Aloha group,

I'm doing some research regarding where on Oahu would be the best location to pick up the major OTAs using a simple indoor or a rooftop multi element antenna. I've inputted some random addresses into tvfool.com and antennaweb.org but would also like to hear some real world reception stories. These are the channels that I definitely want to pick up:

KITV-DT
KGMB-DT
KHNL-DT
KHON-DT
KHET-DT
KAAH-DT
KIKU-DT
KPXO-DT
KFVE-DT

Thanks in advance for any infomation you can provide.

In lower Mililani Town I receive all except KHNL/KFVE on an amplified Yagi antenna installed in attic over first floor. On occasion get some breakup on KGMB, and less frequently KHON. Everything else is pretty solid using the Sammy DTB-H260F tuner.

scott s.
.

In reguards to more HD being added to Oceanic I got this reply.

Aloha!

Thank you for your recent inquiry.
Fox Business News, the Travel Channel, & the Hallmark Movie Channel were
recently added to our High Definition line-up. In addition, we are
currently in negotiations and expect to add the following HD channels to
our line-up in 2009: Speed Channel, Toon Disney, Lifetime, FX, Fox
News, MLB, Bravo, Chiller TV, Military History Channel, Crime &
Investigation, ABC Family Channel, Biography Channel, The Weather
Channel, Style, The Outdoor Channel, ESPNU & G4TechTV.

Unfortunately, there is no exact ETA as to when each channel will be
added individually.

*HD box, HD TV, and HD Entertainment Pak required.
*HD Channels are not available in the Kohala area.


So for the guys who were waiting for F1 and NASCAR in HD the website's 60 day before live thing may be wrong too.

TWC showed up today to install the TA. Installation itself was smooth enough (not hard to patch in the coax cable line and plug in the USB cable) ... we hit some snags in getting the cable cards properly authorized for the HD Pack (OTW had told me earlier that they were but apparently not). After an hour with unplugging/plugging the TA and the Tivo, they finally started recognizing the HD Pack channels. And now I have the full complement of HD channels!

With 3,000 seats left for Pro Bowl it looks like the game will be blacked out on Oceanic. I think DirecTV guys can still get it though on 393?

With the Pro Bowl possibly having its last game in Hawaii (and with all the local sports/media publicity it's been getting), it's still a little hard to fathom why the Pro Bowl hasn't been sold out yet.

I remember KGMB sports interviewing people who were surprised, disappointed, and angry that we would lose the Pro Bowl and YET... it still doesn't sell out.



With 3,000 seats left for Pro Bowl it looks like the game will be blacked out on Oceanic. I think DirecTV guys can still get it though on 393?

With the Pro Bowl possibly having its last game in Hawaii (and with all the local sports/media publicity it's been getting), it's still a little hard to fathom why the Pro Bowl hasn't been sold out yet.

I remember KGMB sports interviewing people who were surprised, disappointed, and angry that we would lose the Pro Bowl and YET... it still doesn't sell out.

Personally I think it's the fact that it's $45 to sit in the Yellow on the endzones only that's turning people off. Last year I remember hearing that tickets on the sideline in the yellow were only $30 cheaper then the orange sidelines in the same section.

There's really no hype this year on Oahu even though it may seem like it. Not like in years past despite Eli and Peyton Manning coming in this the final year of the game in Hawaii.

Practices were open to the public before at Aloha Stadium from Tuesday to Friday, signings were done at Champs Sports and Footlocker. All of those events were cut this year with practice moving to Kapolei HS in closed sessions.
The only events kept were the Family Ohana Day on Saturday, the Pro Bowl Festival at Kapiolani Park and the Pro Bowl Block Party on Kalakua. Only 1 signing was done this year with Patrick Willis at Sprint on Ala Moana Blvd. Overall there's really no hype for the game despite this probably being the last game here.

Unfortunately, there is no exact ETA as to when each channel will be
added individually.

....

So for the guys who were waiting for F1 and NASCAR in HD the website's 60 day before live thing may be wrong too.

Oh crap! I'm still holding out for HD F1, but I'm not optimistic now.

Thanks for the update though.

Aloha group,

I'm doing some research regarding where on Oahu would be the best location to pick up the major OTAs using a simple indoor or a rooftop multi element antenna. I've inputted some random addresses into tvfool.com and antennaweb.org but would also like to hear some real world reception stories. These are the channels that I definitely want to pick up:

KITV-DT
KGMB-DT
KHNL-DT
KHON-DT
KHET-DT
KAAH-DT
KIKU-DT
KPXO-DT
KFVE-DT

Thanks in advance for any infomation you can provide.

In lower Mililani Town I receive all except KHNL/KFVE on an amplified Yagi antenna installed in attic over first floor. On occasion get some breakup on KGMB, and less frequently KHON. Everything else is pretty solid using the Sammy DTB-H260F tuner.

scott s.
.

In the Aiea/Pearlridge area I can get all digital stations except KGMB and KPXO using a Terk HDTVi unamplified antenna. I have one spot where I get most stations, but have to turn the antenna slightly to get KFVE and KHNL. Actually I can get KGMB in one particular spot of my house but even then it cuts in and out. I heard KGMB is moving their transmitter so hopefully things will improve. Anybody able to catch KPXO from Aiea/Pearl City?

Just noticed that the "nightlighting" on the analog channels have finally switched off. No more Dale Payson! Hey at least he can claim that he was on just about every (analog) channel in Hawaii 24/7 for a few weeks. :D

Using the instructions at the Sony DHG-HDD250/500 Forum (http://www.spiffspace.com/forum/index.php?topic=25.0), I have successfully set my Sony DHG-HDD500 to use KGMB-DT on OTW channel 113.1as the TVGOS host channel. After setting it last night, I checked this morning and found both new ads and next Friday's listings. It looks like the life of my Sony DVRs has now been extended indefinitely.

Hurray!

PS. This DVR has TVGOS firmware 8.01.42/8.06.44 and 1.2.05 system firmware.

In the Aiea/Pearlridge area I can get all digital stations except KGMB and KPXO using a Terk HDTVi unamplified antenna. I have one spot where I get most stations, but have to turn the antenna slightly to get KFVE and KHNL. Actually I can get KGMB in one particular spot of my house but even then it cuts in and out. I heard KGMB is moving their transmitter so hopefully things will improve. Anybody able to catch KPXO from Aiea/Pearl City?

Just noticed that the "nightlighting" on the analog channels have finally switched off. No more Dale Payson! Hey at least he can claim that he was on just about every (analog) channel in Hawaii 24/7 for a few weeks. :D
I appreciate the info. I know it's an odd question! Actually, I'm looking for a place to live that can pick up all the stations I listed, preferably in town. The area between Diamond Head and the H1 looks good according to tvfool.com, anybody live over there?

TWC showed up today to install the TA. Installation itself was smooth enough (not hard to patch in the coax cable line and plug in the USB cable) ... we hit some snags in getting the cable cards properly authorized for the HD Pack (OTW had told me earlier that they were but apparently not). After an hour with unplugging/plugging the TA and the Tivo, they finally started recognizing the HD Pack channels. And now I have the full complement of HD channels!
Spleen93

has your tivo crashed since the TA install? so far my tivo HD crashed twice since monday (my install date) and yesterday i had to pull the TA out until after it booted up.

Spleen93

has your tivo crashed since the TA install? so far my tivo HD crashed twice since monday (my install date) and yesterday i had to pull the TA out until after it booted up.

No crashes yet. Now that I've said that, of course, I've jinxed myself. I'm really enjoying Palladia!

I've been seeing a sporadic 720p signal on DirecTV KHNL, unless my satellite receiver is acting up. It seems strange, since NBC does HD at 1080i, doesn't it? Right now, 10:30 Sat. morning, it's back to 480i.
Edit: Now at 12:40pm on DirecTV, all the local HD stations have a 1080i signal, and the local (presumably) SD stations have a stretched 720p picture.
As of Sunday morning, KHNL and KFVE have 1080i signals on my DirecTV DVR, but still have 480i signals on my other satellite receiver. I'm not getting any new HD, really -- apparently my DVR is upconverting and stretching the SD signals. I can't imagine why.

Pro Bowl to be telecast in Hawaii on KHNL:

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=9803605

Pro Bowl to be telecast in Hawaii on KHNL:

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=9803605

Oh joy, more crap signals from directv. Thankfully I'm going to the game!

As of Sunday morning, KHNL and KFVE have 1080i signals on my DirecTV DVR, but still have 480i signals on my other satellite receiver. I'm not getting any new HD, really -- apparently my DVR is upconverting and stretching the SD signals. I can't imagine why.

Is your DVR set to HDTV | Native=On ?

On my HR20, FOX and ABC show as 720p with the off-air tuner...the rest at 1080i. The locals being broadcast by DirecTV (except for KHNL/KFVE which show as 480i) are all at 1080i, so FOX/ABC are being rescaled somewhere.

--Michael

Is your DVR set to HDTV | Native=On ?

Yes, it is, and all resolutions are enabled. Channels 2 and 4 display at 1080i (though the networks are 720p) on DirecTV on both my satellite receivers. As best I recall, they always have. What is new is this strange business with the SD channels being shown as faked HD. Someone from Windber PA reported something very similar on dbstalk.com. It may perhaps concern only the HR20-700 DVR running a CE experimental version of the system firmware.

I've been seeing a sporadic 720p signal on DirecTV KHNL, unless my satellite receiver is acting up. It seems strange, since NBC does HD at 1080i, doesn't it? Right now, 10:30 Sat. morning, it's back to 480i.
Edit: Now at 12:40pm on DirecTV, all the local HD stations have a 1080i signal, and the local (presumably) SD stations have a stretched 720p picture.
As of Sunday morning, KHNL and KFVE have 1080i signals on my DirecTV DVR, but still have 480i signals on my other satellite receiver. I'm not getting any new HD, really -- apparently my DVR is upconverting and stretching the SD signals. I can't imagine why.


greg are you saying that on dorecttv you get khnl in hd now if so is anyone seeing the same with dish?

greg are you saying that on dorecttv you get khnl in hd now if so is anyone seeing the same with dish?
No, I'm not saying that. I'm getting KHNL and KFVE in SD, but my HR20-700 satellite dvr is upconverting the 480i signal to 1080i and stretching out the 4:3 picture to 16:9. The same thing is being done for all the local SD stations, except the others are being converted to 720p instead of 1080i. It's weird, and rather irritating. I don't like stretched pictures. National SD channels display normally, at 480i. My other satellite receiver shows the local SD channels normally, at 480i.

No, I'm not saying that. I'm getting KHNL and KFVE in SD, but my HR20-700 satellite dvr is upconverting the 480i signal to 1080i and stretching out the 4:3 picture to 16:9. The same thing is being done for all the local SD stations, except the others are being converted to 720p instead of 1080i. It's weird, and rather irritating. I don't like stretched pictures. National SD channels display normally, at 480i. My other satellite receiver shows the local SD channels normally, at 480i.

ok thanks, I still find it irritating that KFVE is in hd on dish and khnl is not

Just FYI as a DirecTV subscriber, KHNL has been giving me tons of pink screens and choppy video quality, about 4-6 times an hour. Around 10:20pm on Tuesday, it went black and locked my receiver. (I was not pushing buttons or playing with any configurations).

Resetting the device resolved the problem. Fun.

GregLee, regarding the 1080i + video stretch, choose "pillar box" as your screen format in in your System Setup -> HDTV->Video screen. This works on my HR20-700. Perhaps they changed something, but it works for me as i do not like video stretch, ever. KHNL stays at 480i, though I know native resolution is ON and HBO shows up in 1080i.

** Edited to note DirecTV **

GregLee, regarding the 1080i + video stretch, choose "pillar box" as your screen format in in your System Setup -> HDTV->Video screen.
I do have screen format set to "pillar box", but that has effect only for SD. It works fine for national SD channels, which display as normal 480i, with pillar boxes. It does not affect the stretch of the local SD channels.

Strange, it does keep pillar box for local 480i SD channels on my HR20-700.

I do have screen format set to "pillar box", but that has effect only for SD. It works fine for national SD channels, which display as normal 480i, with pillar boxes. It does not affect the stretch of the local SD channels.

Hi All,

Very happy to find such an active Hawaii discussion going on. Have a question that hopefully some of you can help me with. Recently purchased a Samsung LN46A650, signed up for Oceanic's HD service, and had Oceanic install its HD cable box with a DVR. Went through Oceanic's on screen HD wizard to set the signals that can be shown on the tv (e.g., 480P, 720P, 1080i). Had the tv for a little over a week.

Here's the question - - so far on all the HD channels, the HD signal appears to be at 480P. (The 480P signal info is displayed on the cable box and on my tv.) Is this normal? I have yet to come across a channel that was being broadcast at either 720P or 1080i. Am I missing something? I called Oceanic's technical support and they weren't very helpful and didn't have any recommendations.

If you have any thoughts I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks in advance! Have a great Aloha Friday!

Assuming that you've checked all of the possible settings in the DVR menu, try bypassing the DVR and plug your cable directly from the wall to the cable input of your tv and running a channel scan. The scan takes about 15 minutes, but after it's done, take a look at these channels and see if you're receiving anything in HD (assuming that an HD program is being aired):

NBC KHNL 83.1 (HD)
FOX KHON 85.1 (HD)
KFVE 110.1 (HD)
CBS KGMB 113.1 (HD)
ABC KITV 114.2 (HD)
PBS KHET 120.1 (HD)

If you are able to view an HD program in 720p or 1080i then perhaps you should simply swap out your DVR. If you still can't receive program in HD, check your tv menu settings and restore to default settings if necessary.

Here's the question - - so far on all the HD channels, the HD signal appears to be at 480P. (The 480P signal info is displayed on the cable box and on my tv.) Is this normal? I have yet to come across a channel that was being broadcast at either 720P or 1080i. Am I missing something? I called Oceanic's technical support and they weren't very helpful and didn't have any recommendations.

If you have any thoughts I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks in advance! Have a great Aloha Friday!

I'm at work right now so I don't remember where exactly it's located in the setup menu, but look for a display setting on the DVR that you can set to "pass-through." You want to pass the native resolution of the HD channel to your TV through the HDMI cable.

Make sure you're going to ch 1008 or ch 1006 to test the resolution (1080i and 720p respectively).

redsoxfan, you need to make sure that all formats have been enabled in setup, then set the box to 'pass-through' mode. Assuming you have an SA8300, follow the link below. Scroll down to the 'setup' section of the first post. It describes how to enter setup thru the keys on the front of the box. The 'settings' section tells you how to make the necessary adjustments. Good luck.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859

If you have any thoughts I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks in advance! Have a great Aloha Friday!

Are you using HDMI or Component from the DVR?
Oceanic hooked up a friends system using Composite (yellow video output) and he had the same questions as you.

--Michael

Strange, it does keep pillar box for local 480i SD channels on my HR20-700.
The problem I'm having with local SD channels displayed at an inappropriate resolution arises only with recent experimental versions of the system firmware for the HR20-700. I found that out yesterday by downloading the current national release 0x02CB firmware. There was no problem with it, and so it seems unlikely that anyone else in Hawaii would be affected.

Thanks all for the replies! I was able to fix the problem. As many suggested, I had to go to "settings" on my DVR and change the format to "pass through". I'm now enjoying programming in 720P and 1080i on my tv.

In response to a question someone asked, I'm currently using the component cables that Oceanic supplied. My HDMI cables from Blue Jean Cables are on their way. I should also be getting a PS3 next week and hopefully will not run into any problems in hooking it up.

Thanks again for all the helpful responses. I'll be sure to frequent this forum now that I've discovered it.

On Time Warner Cable's Website there's a program schedule list that offers a login option.

SPEED HD, FX HD, Disney XD HD or whatever it is now (Formerly Toon Disney) and (yes for the I'm guessing 2 or 3 women who read this forum) Lifetime Movie Network HD are already listed as part of Oceanic TWC's HD lineup on the schedule guide here. -

http://www.timewarnercable.com/CustomerService/TvListings/TvListings.ashx?cluid=1034

This could lead to it being launched soon if it's already on the TWC website but it ISN'T listed under the channels ava. by zip code area yet.-

http://www.timewarnercable.com/CustomerService/Clu/Clu.ashx

I find it strange that TWC puts these channels on the scheduler part as active HD Channels when it isn't even listed on the "Line Up" section and it's not active yet and Golf Channel HD and Versus HD aren't listed anymore in the schedule part but they are still active.

[QUOTE=redsoxfan808;15825575]
In response to a question someone asked, I'm currently using the component cables that Oceanic supplied. My HDMI cables from Blue Jean Cables are on their way. I should also be getting a PS3 next week and hopefully will not run into any problems in hooking it up.

I went back to component cables after using HDMI for a few months. HDMI causes too much weird behavior with the DVR. The most noticable drawback using HDMI is the loss of buffered programs - unless they are already set to record. Can't see any pix quality difference - both are great.

I recently bought a Sylvania HDTV. However I tried to see if I could see any of Oceanic's HDTV channels in the clear (I disconnected the Digital cable box and connected the TV directly to the wall outlet). Unfortunately I was not able to. Did I do something wrong ?

I went back to component cables after using HDMI for a few months. HDMI causes too much weird behavior with the DVR. The most noticable drawback using HDMI is the loss of buffered programs - unless they are already set to record. Can't see any pix quality difference - both are great.

I've been using HDMI with the SA8300HD DVR for over two years and I have not experienced any of what you've described. I am more than happy with HDMI, and everyone should try both to see what the best results are.

Especially if one cable provides both excellent picture quality and sound as well.

I figured out how to get local HDTV channels in the clear via Oceanic. However everyone except KITV are scrambled.

I figured out how to get local HDTV channels in the clear via Oceanic. However everyone except KITV are scrambled.

I'm receiving the following QAM channels in HD and in the clear directly off the cable:

85.3 KHON/FOX (OTW 1003)
110.1 KFVE/CW(?) (OTW 1005)
114.2 KITV/ABC (OTW 1006)
113.1 KGMB/CBS (OTW 1007)
83.3 KHNL/NBC (OTW 1008)
120.12 KHET/PBS (OTW 1010)

PS I'm on Oahu

PS I'm on Oahu

I'm not sure that since I'm living on the Big Island and you're on Oahu that should make any difference. We are all serviced by Oceanic Time Warner.

I'm not sure that since I'm living on the Big Island and you're on Oahu that should make any difference. We are all serviced by Oceanic Time Warner.

I totally agree with you that it "shouldn't" make any difference at all, BUT don't forget who you're dealing with. All local broadcast channels "should" be in the "clear" for all OTW customers, no matter the location. Unfortunately for us customers, OTW is well know for thumbing a no$e at regulations. And, we all know the importance of "customer care" at OTW; a$ long a$ that "care" ha$ a po$itive impact on monthly revenue$$$, it's a definite "maybe can do."

My guess is that OTW on Oahu has a big hose feeding all the channels over to the Big Island. Someone at the Big Island OTW distribution head has taken it upon themselves to encrypt the local HD channels that should be in the clear. This may be an honest mistake (LOL) or someone (on the Big Island) is thinking that "anything HD i$ not going out for free from this station" even though it is supposed to be in the clear.

You could try getting ahold of the "someone" in charge at the Big Island OTW station and see if they can fix it. (LOL, again)

You could also try getting ahold of the station managers of the local stations (more LOL) and ask them if they know why the local feed on Oahu is in the "clear" but the same feed is encrypted for the Big Island.

I would suggest making sure that it's not your QAM tuner before raising a ruckus.

Best of luck.

I ended up upgrading to Oceanic's HD service today. I thought it would be better to go that route instead trying to figure out why the local HD channels are blocked.Especially since I don't know if its my QAM tuner or its something on their end.

One quick question, how can I eliminate the letter box format of the HD channels ?

I totally agree with you that it "shouldn't" make any difference at all, BUT don't forget who you're dealing with. All local broadcast channels "should" be in the "clear" for all OTW customers, no matter the location. Unfortunately for us customers, OTW is well know for thumbing a no$e at regulations. And, we all know the importance of "customer care" at OTW; a$ long a$ that "care" ha$ a po$itive impact on monthly revenue$$$, it's a definite "maybe can do."


Not an expert, but I think OTW is the cable operator for the Oahu cable franchise and is owned by Time Warner Entertainment TWE. Over time, TWE has bought the other franchises, including West Hawaii from Sun and Kamehameha (Sun cablevision) and East Hawaii (Hawaiian Cablevision of Hilo). It could well be that the different franchises have different carry requirements. You would have to go to DCCA Cable Television Division and ask them.

scott s.
.

Not an expert, but I think OTW is the cable operator for the Oahu cable franchise and is owned by Time Warner Entertainment TWE. Over time, TWE has bought the other franchises, including West Hawaii from Sun and Kamehameha (Sun cablevision) and East Hawaii (Hawaiian Cablevision of Hilo). It could well be that the different franchises have different carry requirements. You would have to go to DCCA Cable Television Division and ask them.


It is my understanding that its a FCC requirement that the local HD channels be in the clear even if you don't subscribe to the HD Entertainment Pak.

One quick question, how can I eliminate the letter box format of the HD channels ?
Use the SA8300HD zoom control, irrc, which might be at the lower right of your remote. Possibly called "Asp"?

Here's a question that could have multiple answers.

Does Oceanic TWC automatically reset cable boxes for no reason?

It feels like they've done it and there's noting changed.

I got a e-mail from KHON that cleared up my question why I couldn't get the local HD channels in the clear. Apparently there is no FCC must carry rule for HD channels. Hence why they are scrambled.

"Good Day Aaron,

If I interpret your question correctly you're currently on Oceanic Time Warner Service. The "must carry" rules do not include HD service at this time which is probably why you're not picking up these channels in the clear. That being said however, Oceanic does move it's station line-ups from time to time which puts the HD service feeds in the clear ex: KHON on a Sony HDTV set can be picked up on 89.3 here on Oahu but I'm not sure where it would be found on the Big Island. This is one of the reasons why Oceanic insist on customers to use their HD converter boxes. I would try to perform a rescan on your TV so as to allow your set to look for any new channels and possibly find the HD channels in the clear.

Although this is probably what you didn't wish to hear, unfortunately Oceanic Time Warner is independant from our station and we do not hold the keys to their channel line-ups."

I ended up upgrading to Oceanic's HD service today.

If you have a OTW box, it "should" give you the locals in HD without having to subscribe to "HD service," since local HD is "supposed" to be in the clear, but, again, we're dealing with OTW.

I don't know if its my QAM tuner

Ways to check if it's your QAM tuner:

Ask members of this forum that live on the Big Island to see if they get all the local channels in HD using QAM.

Ask any friends or neighbors that have QAM TV's to hook cable up directly to TV and do a channel search/scan. Depending on TV model, "channel search/scan" may be found in the "setting up for the first time" or, maybe in a "add channels" function.

It is my understanding that its a FCC requirement that the local HD channels be in the clear even if you don't subscribe to the HD Entertainment Pak.

Yes, that is true, but you forget, lucky we have OTW as our "service" provider.

Use the SA8300HD zoom control, irrc, which might be at the lower right of your remote. Possibly called "Asp"?

IMHO, "zoom control" would not be a way to "fix" this problem. I don't have a OTW STB to play with but, I don't think you should be getting letter box (black bars top/bottom) if, for instance, you're watching the NBC Nightly News in HD or watching NCIS in HD.

If I watch a show in HD on NBC via QAM (direct cable) and I have the TV display in "normal" mode, I have a full screen picture (no bars anywhere). If I pipe the cable to a TiVo and watch that same show in HD via the TiVo, again, I have a full screen picture. The TiVo "output" mode must be in "native" and my TV's display mode must be in "normal" in order to get a full screen display.

Apparently there is no FCC must carry rule for HD channels. Hence why they are scrambled.

To the best of my knowledge, NOT(!) true. The FCC doesn't force cable systems to carry local HD. But if cable chooses to carry the HD versions of local broadcast stations (which they all do), then the FCC requires those signals be unencrypted and available in the "clear."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner


I got a e-mail from KHON that cleared up my question why I couldn't get the local HD channels in the clear.

"Good Day Aaron,

If I interpret your question correctly you're currently on Oceanic Time Warner Service. The "must carry" rules do not include HD service at this time which is probably why you're not picking up these channels in the clear. That being said however, Oceanic does move it's station line-ups from time to time which puts the HD service feeds in the clear ex: KHON on a Sony HDTV set can be picked up on 89.3 here on Oahu but I'm not sure where it would be found on the Big Island. This is one of the reasons why Oceanic insist on customers to use their HD converter boxes. I would try to perform a rescan on your TV so as to allow your set to look for any new channels and possibly find the HD channels in the clear.

Although this is probably what you didn't wish to hear, unfortunately Oceanic Time Warner is independant from our station and we do not hold the keys to their channel line-ups."

This mostly BS! Local stations, "$erving u$ cu$tomer$", are in bed with O($$$)TW; what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Do you ever wonder why some network programs don't start/stop "on-time?" Or, why some cable only (SciFi channel) programs can't start/stop "on-time?" It's called extra ($$$) commercials beyond the allocated time for local commercials. Most everything is tape delayed, so why not trow in a few extra commercials, more commercials = better service! And, we have the best of the best here in Hawaii: OTW.

http://www.hawaii.gov/dcca/areas/catv/complaint/


another PS: actually, the local stations and OTW probably have more of a love/hate relationship (look at how long it took to get KGMB in HD on cable); in the end, it's all about the money(!!!) and customer service (OTW, locals) is smoke and mirrors.

Is everyone paying $103.85 for the DVR surfpack? I never really looked at my bill so don't know when they raised it. I swear I use to be paying around $95. I remember they use to charge some people different prices so I was just wondering if i'm getting charged the higher rate.

Is everyone paying $103.85 for the DVR surfpack? I never really looked at my bill so don't know when they raised it. I swear I use to be paying around $95. I remember they use to charge some people different prices so I was just wondering if i'm getting charged the higher rate.

last surf pak bill I saw was $97.40 w/tax&license but I don't know if it's with a plane jane STB or a STB w/recorder.

Its water under the bridge now since I already subscribed to their HD Entertainment Pak yesterday. That being said, I tried accessing the HD channels through the digital cable box (Didn't work) and when I hooked the coax directly to the TV. In the latter case, I could only get KITV's HD signal.

I
IMHO, "zoom control" would not be a way to "fix" this problem. I don't have a OTW STB to play with but, I don't think you should be getting letter box (black bars top/bottom) if, for instance, you're watching the NBC Nightly News in HD or watching NCIS in HD.

If I watch a show in HD on NBC via QAM (direct cable) and I have the TV display in "normal" mode, I have a full screen picture (no bars anywhere). If I pipe the cable to a TiVo and watch that same show in HD via the TiVo, again, I have a full screen picture. The TiVo "output" mode must be in "native" and my TV's display mode must be in "normal" in order to get a full screen display.



For whatever reason the channels I've seen on HD tier are only shown in letter box format.

For whatever reason the channels I've seen on HD tier are only shown in letter box format.

I don't know about the channels in the "HD tier" but I do know that all the locals in HD (post #4956) display in full screen (meaning, no bars).

If you tune one of those local channels during an HD program on your OTW STB and you get bars, something is not right. I suspect that either the TV or the STB is not in the correct "mode." If you're watching a "wide screen move" (theatrical release) on a HD STB channel, you will get letterbox bars (and that's normal, just like if you watch a widescreen movie with your DVD player). But, on any HD network channel (NBC/CBS/FOX/ABC), show like NCIS, Gray's Anatomy, Lost, etc. will (and should) always display as a full screen image (no bars) on a 720p or 1080i/P HDTV without resorting to any "zoom" function.

For whatever reason the channels I've seen on HD tier are only shown in letter box format.
But in the preceding message, you said you hadn't yet managed to access any HD channels through the cable box. If you can't see the HD channels, how can you tell the format is letter box? I'm confused.

But in the preceding message, you said you hadn't yet managed to access any HD channels through the cable box. If you can't see the HD channels, how can you tell the format is letter box? I'm confused.

I went down to OTW's Kona office and upgraded to their HD service on Thursday.

I don't know about the channels in the "HD tier" but I do know that all the locals in HD (post #4956) display in full screen (meaning, no bars).

If you tune one of those local channels during an HD program on your OTW STB and you get bars, something is not right. I suspect that either the TV or the STB is not in the correct "mode." If you're watching a "wide screen move" (theatrical release) on a HD STB channel, you will get letterbox bars (and that's normal, just like if you watch a widescreen movie with your DVD player). But, on any HD network channel (NBC/CBS/FOX/ABC), show like NCIS, Gray's Anatomy, Lost, etc. will (and should) always display as a full screen image (no bars) on a 720p or 1080i/P HDTV without resorting to any "zoom" function.

I'm watching Fox Sports West in HD and getting it in letterbox format. The local news all are in letterbox format. However KHNL is the only one that doesn't look like a square on the screen. KHNL's broadcast comes up like a rectangle on my tv. I'm a bit perplexed what to do resolve this. I tried to look at the Explorer 3250HD settings and my Sylvania's HDTV settings and had no luck.

I found this on Oceanic's website. Apparently it should configure your tv for HDTV. But It didn't do much help. If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

http://www.oceanic.com/OceanicWebApps/Television/HD/hd_learn_setup.html

I found this on Oceanic's website. Apparently it should configure your tv for HDTV. But It didn't do much help.
No, it configures a cable box.

I'm sure someone can help if you'll give more details about your setup. What model cable box. What model TV. What cables connect the two and what input and outputs they are connected to. That kind of stuff. Does your TV have an Info button that displays on screen what input is in use and what type of signal is being displayed? If so, what does it show when you are viewing one of these letter boxed HD channels?

I'm watching Fox Sports West in HD and getting it in letterbox format. The local news all are in letterbox format. However KHNL is the only one that doesn't look like a square on the screen. KHNL's broadcast comes up like a rectangle on my tv. I'm a bit perplexed what to do resolve this. I tried to look at the Explorer 3250HD settings and my Sylvania's HDTV settings and had no luck.

What does your display image look like when you're watching a "prime time" HD program on 1003/FOX, 1006/ABC, 1007/CBS, or 1008/NBC? Note the time/channel/program and let us know. I suggest watching several different prime time programs to see if they all exhibit the same display.

A lot of the TV's have a "Display Info" button. Like GregLee said, see if you have such a button and press it while watching the prime time programs. Note the display info and let us know what the TV says.

FYI for those that are somewhat new to HD:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/02/19/hd-101-why-there-are-black-bars-on-hdtvs/

Hope it's helpful.

No, it configures a cable box.

I'm sure someone can help if you'll give more details about your setup. What model cable box. What model TV. What cables connect the two and what input and outputs they are connected to. That kind of stuff. Does your TV have an Info button that displays on screen what input is in use and what type of signal is being displayed? If so, what does it show when you are viewing one of these letter boxed HD channels?

I figured out what the problem was. I had the TV set for the WRONG video input. When I fixed that, the letterbox problem went away.

FYI

For those that are interested (and perhaps unaware) there is some interesting reading in this forum regarding OTW:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=364085&page=11

FXHD showed up in the guide on OTW for a bit today but then disappeared. The channel didn't tune. they must be testing it.

Channel 5 KFVE on DirecTV and Channel 005-00 KFVE on DISH Network are stuttering/pixelating to the point of being unwatchable (Sunday at 6pm), whereas HD Channel 5671 KFVE on DISH Network is rock-solid.

Anyone know why?

--Michael

FXHD showed up in the guide on OTW for a bit today but then disappeared. The channel didn't tune. they must be testing it.

FXHD is on the guide on OTW here on the Big Island right now (no programming as yet, although the schedule is there) and BRAVOHD is now live.

FXHD and BRAVOHD are both live on Oahu.

Oceanic's website indicates that: "Lifetime HD, Toon Disney HD and Speed HD will not be added as previously planned due to contract and technical issues."

Anyone else still not getting fxhd? That channel still gives me the "not available now, please try at another time" message. I tried rebooting the box but still nothing. Don't know if it makes a difference but I live in Makiki; my friend who's in Manoa has the channel.

Anyone else still not getting fxhd? That channel still gives me the "not available now, please try at another time" message. I tried rebooting the box but still nothing. Don't know if it makes a difference but I live in Makiki; my friend who's in Manoa has the channel.
I'm not getting that channel either and I'm in Makiki too.

FXHD and BRAVOHD not working for me with cablecard.

FXHD and BRAVOHD don't work for me either w/cable cards.

Can anyone with cable box confirm they can get these channels?

Works with cable box but not with cable cards it looks like.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7113385#post7113385

Don't know when it started, but I can now view FXHD (1554) and BRAVOHD (1560) on cablecard now.


FXHD and BRAVOHD not working for me with cablecard.

I have DN. both hd and sd side of khet/pbs image has shrunk. Anyone know why? I reported it about two weeks ago. Followed up again with DN and the tech guy said they will look into it more if more people complained about it. So far they said I am the only one that complained about it. Screw cable companies already. I'll just get OTA and just do BR for my HD needs.

Anybody notice increased Road Runner download speeds? I'm getting 20K download, whereas before it was 5K. Upload still at 1K. This is at speedtest.net.

Anybody notice increased Road Runner download speeds? I'm getting 20K download, whereas before it was 5K. Upload still at 1K. This is at speedtest.net.
...Not until I read your post today...

I'm also not getting the fxhd channel. I live by punchbowl. Do you other guys who live in Makiki have it yet?

Anybody notice increased Road Runner download speeds? I'm getting 20K download, whereas before it was 5K. Upload still at 1K. This is at speedtest.net.
This might be one of those, don't talk about it or it might go away. However I concur with your evaluation that certain aspects of RR has been accelerated (trying to talk big to confuse RR's spies).

My newly acquired Channel Master CM-7000 dtv converter box sees KHON only by its real/RF channel (8-1 and 8-2) and is unable to recognize/identify its virtual channels (2-1 and 2-2), callsign (KHON-HD and KHON-CW) and EPG/program info. The problem is with KHON only; the box picks up the aforementioned info for all other channels/stations fine or as expected. I believe KHON is sending out their virtual channel, callsign, and show info in some form, because our other dtv converter boxes (Zenith, DigitalStream) do pick up the info and readily do so as I perform rescans or request program info with them.

I need the CM-7000 to be able to identify stations by their virtual channel in order for my dvr to properly control the CM-7000, since the dvr's program guide uses virtual channel info.

The reception of the station is otherwise good. I have performed channel rescans with the CM-7000 rescanning several times on various occasions, but the box has never been able to pick up the virtual channel and other info for KHON.

If you have a device that has a similar issue with KHON, I'd like to hear from you. Thanks very much.

---------------------

My CM-7000 version info is:
s/w version: b7707_lpm 52.5dc001
built: 20080714

This might be one of those, don't talk about it or it might go away. However I concur with your evaluation that certain aspects of RR has been accelerated (trying to talk big to confuse RR's spies).

I heard they "opened" it to compete with the unlimited, or as fast as your area suports, Hawtel dsl service. Have a neighbor that just got HT dsl($24) and has 11mbps d/l x 1mbps u/l...
I get around 15m d/l x 500kbps u/l

Oceanic's website indicates that: "Lifetime HD, Toon Disney HD and Speed HD will not be added as previously planned due to contract and technical issues."

I've searched OTW's site and can't find any mention of these channels not being available. Can you point to where this was mentioned? I actualy spoke to someone at OTW last week and she didn't know when SpeedHD (or the others) would be shown.

This is not related to the typical Contract of Carriage/Contract negotiations that always come around sooner or later.

I'm bummed that SpeedHD might not be made available. The Formula One season starts next week, and that's the only reason why I watch that channel.

http://snipurl.com/dwlwz

[I was informed that Time Warner has purchased Comcast's powerboost technology. They've been rolling this out division by division. It was finally introduced in Hawaii this February. This technology apparently skews speed test results making them look better than they really are.]

I've searched OTW's site and can't find any mention of these channels not being available. Can you point to where this was mentioned? I actualy spoke to someone at OTW last week and she didn't know when SpeedHD (or the others) would be shown.

This is not related to the typical Contract of Carriage/Contract negotiations that always come around sooner or later.

I'm bummed that SpeedHD might not be made available. The Formula One season starts next week, and that's the only reason why I watch that channel.

It was posted here http://www.oceanic.com/products/television .However they removed that information from this page and updated it.